4 August was the day that four men were sentenced for their part in the Innospec leaded fuel corruption case.

There was a real spread of sentences – four years' imprisonment, two years' imprisonment, 18 months' imprisonment and 16 months' imprisonment, suspended. Two had pleaded guilty to corruption, and two had been found guilty by unanimous jury verdict after a three-month trial. In his sentencing remarks, His Honour Judge Goymer made very clear the seriousness of offending of that nature, and the sentences reflect that.

After the years of investigation, legal challenge and the trial, the moment had finally come for those given custodial sentences to be taken from the dock. So what can we take from this?

1. 'White collar' crime will be treated no differently to any other crime

In his remarks, the judge said: "None of [these defendants], I expect, would consider themselves in the same category as common criminals who commit crimes that involve dishonesty or violence" – a sentiment widely shared across the senior ranks of the City. But it is obvious that that is a dangerous belief to hold if the temptation arises to commit, go along with or turn a blind eye to corruption.

The truth is that those who breach the criminal law in any forum will be treated equally, and I would be surprised if anyone seriously argued that should not be the case. The comfort, distance and apparent safety of the boardroom is indistinguishable from any other environment in which crime is committed, and is just as capable of resulting in a custodial sentence. Corporate crime is not a special category of crime-lite, to be treated less seriously than real crime. Surely the opposite is true when one takes into account the potential harm a senior individual can cause through the misuse of their privileged position.

As His Honour Judge Goymer said when dealing with the issue of human accountability for corporate crime: "[i]t follows that those who have a high level role in the organisation or management and by their own pleas or by the jury's verdict are shown to have been knowingly involved in corruption must bear a heavy responsibility in the criminal law". That is a view that I suspect resonates more comfortably with the public perception of those who commit highly impactful institutional crime.

2. In overseas corruption cases, the defence of 'it's just the way things are done' is no defence at all

This is a short point, probably uncontroversial but worth revisiting. Few would put the positive case that just because people in a particular jurisdiction are known to tolerate corruption, it is acceptable to participate in that behaviour, particularly if they see less scrupulous competitors achieving an advantage.

A linked concern from the perspective of an individual is where they join or are promoted into the senior echelons of a company and find that questionable conduct is taking place or expected; it's just the way things are done in that company. It can, I imagine, be immensely hard to stand up to that as the new person, but the risks of failing to do so are clear.

The trial judge commented during sentencing: "[t]he corruption in this company was ingrained, it was endemic and it was institutionalised. It is no excuse to say that things had always been done in what the jury and I came to know during the trial as "the Indonesian way", and he went on to describe another economic argument said to mitigate the conduct in question as "a convenient and cynical excuse for the corruption".

The lesson here is that whatever the prevailing context, the courts in England and Wales will view corrupt conduct with clarity and precision, uncluttered by whatever concession an individual may have made to themselves to justify their act or omission.

3. There is a clear incentive to co-operate with the SFO, both as an individual and as a company

The key point here is the suspended sentence one of the defendants received. It is entirely a matter for the court what sentence it imposes, and the SFO can make no guarantee about that, nor should it. But we know that in this case the two suspects who pleaded not guilty received a four-year and an 18-month sentence respectively, and a suspect who pleaded guilty immediately received two years' imprisonment, but the suspect who pleaded guilty immediately and cooperated with the SFO's investigation – including giving evidence for the Crown at trial – did not go to prison.

There is an overwhelming imperative on executives who suspect corruption in their organisation to speak up. There has always been a moral driver for that, but now there is a tangible, practical one too. If you know of something and you are not implicated yourself, then covering it up or passively going along with it can create its own legal risk. And if it is too late for that and you are already implicated, it seems your options are quite clear: fight and risk prison, or come clean and cooperate and, hopefully, don't.

For now there is one final significant point to all of this. I have spoken publically about the decision a company itself has to make when it suspects it has a corruption issue, which is to choose its fork in the road. Does it want to keep the matter from the SFO, and run all the risks that entails, or does it choose to cooperate with the SFO in the hope of, effectively, a more lenient outcome if it turns out there has been criminal conduct?

I have given my reasons before about why I say the latter position is the obvious legal, commercial and moral choice, and since deferred prosecution agreements became available, numerous companies have come to talk to us. Notwithstanding that, I continue to encounter forceful opposition in the legal community, if not the business community, to the suggestion that a company would choose to speak to us, one of the reasons for which being, apparently, the difficulty the board members might have if they themselves are potentially exposed.

In light of the sentencing guidance this case offers, I wonder how credible that argument is. Is it now more or less likely that a conflicted board member would seek to cooperate with the SFO? If they do, is it more or less likely that the SFO will learn about and have evidence to demonstrate corporate offending? And what then for the company and the remaining directors who tried to bury it?

Ben Morgan is joint head of bribery and corruption at the Serious Fraud Office.

Related briefing: The Rolls-Royce probe, JLT's £1.8m fine and DPAs – the UK's fight against bribery