On 13 January 2012, the UK Serious Fraud Office ("SFO") won a so-called Civil Recovery Order under the Proceeds of Crime Act. The order enables the SFO to claw back dividends from a shareholder of a company convicted of a criminal offence. In this case, the dividends were received by Mabey Engineering from a subsidiary which was prosecuted in 2009 for corruption and breach of UN sanctions. The order is said to represent a milestone for the SFO as it continues to put pressure on companies to focus on compliance and for investors to carry out adequate due diligence on companies they invest in.

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