The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has carried out no raids in the year since the high-profile arrests of the Tchenguiz brothers, according to new research by Pinsent Masons.

A freedom of information request by Pinsents has revealed that from 2008 to 2010 the SFO conducted around 50 raids per year, but that none have taken place since the dawn raid of property belonging to businessmen Vincent and Robert Tchenguiz in March last year.

Earlier this year the Tchenguiz brothers won the right to a judicial review of the circumstances surrounding the raid after the SFO admitted to mishandling the case, which has so far handed related legal roles to firms including Stephenson Harwood and BCL Burton Copeland.

New SFO director David Green, who took up his new role on 1 May, has said the the body will take a hard line on white collar crime, and the fraud investigator's image as preferring to settle than prosecute must be challenged. However, according to Pinsents, the figures suggest the department has adopted an overly cautious position when it comes to investigating fraud.

Pinsents corporate crime chief Barry Vitou (pictured) commented: "These statistics show recent warnings of dawn raids from the SFO have in fact been hollow threats. Its decision to rein back on raids during the past year could be a missed opportunity. You would expect that a financial crime agency dealing with fraud would become very active after a recession, but that hasn't been the case for the SFO in the last year."

In response, an SFO spokesperson commented: "There has been fewer search operations in the past year. Much depends on the case life-cycle. Furthermore, not all investigations need searches. Where material can be obtained by other means, and where a search operation is deemed unnecessary, so much the better."

"It would be completely wrong to interpret a reduction in search numbers as a lack of activity or a loss of appetite to vigorously investigate fraud.  Each case is assessed on individual requirements and this includes assessing the merits of a search."

The judicial review hearing into the SFO's arrest of the Tchenguiz brothers kicked off last week (23 May), with a raft of high-profile QCs appearing in court including Debevoise & Plimpton's Lord Goldsmith QC, instructed by Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr litigation partner Stephen Pollard on behalf of Vincent Tchenguiz.

Stephenson Harwood is advising Rawlinson & Hunter, the trustees of the Tchenguiz Family Trust, and several other related parties in relation to the SFO proceedings. The firm's team includes commercial litigation partner Sean Jeffrey, senior associate Richard Garcia and associate Leonie Parkin, with Alun Jones QC of Great James Street instructed as counsel.