Slaughters and Debevoise advise as Rolls-Royce agrees £671m settlement in bribery case
Rolls-Royce reaches Deferred Prosecution Agreement in response to allegations of bribery and corruption
January 17, 2017 at 05:28 AM
3 minute read
Slaughter and May and Debevoise & Plimpton have advised Rolls-Royce on a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which has seen the company agree to pay £671m to settle bribery and corruption cases in the UK and US.
Rolls-Royce has also reached a DPA with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) and a leniency agreement with Brazil's Ministerio Publico Federal (MPF).
The SFO launched a criminal investigation into Rolls-Royce in December 2013, after a whistleblower claimed that the aerospace and defence brand had bribed the son of a former Indonesian president with a £13m Rolls-Royce car.
The terms of the DPA state Rolls-Royce will have to pay £497m plus interest under a schedule lasting up to five years. There will also be pay with regards to the SFO's costs. The company will also pay the DoJ $170m (£140m) and the MPF $25.6m (£21m).
With this DPA, the SFO is now playing in the big leagues
Approval for the agreement will be sought at a public hearing today (17 January) before Sir Brian Leveson QC, the president of the Queen's Bench Division, at Southwark Crown Court.
The Slaughters team advising the company is being led by disputes partners Richard Swallow and Jonathan Clark. Slaughters joined US firm Debevoise & Plimpton in advising Rolls-Royce, after Debevoise was instructed by the company when the claims were first aired in 2012.
Slaughters has acted on a number of recent transactions for Rolls-Royce, including its joint venture with Spanish automotive engineering company Hispano-Suiza in July 2014.
In November 2015, Lord Leveson ratified the first ever DPA by the SFO, after ICBC Standard Bank admitted liability and struck a deal with the SFO to avoid the uncertainty of a criminal trial.
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan partner Robert Amaee – the former head of anti-corruption at the SFO – commented: "This is the third and most significant DPA secured by the SFO. It is by far the largest penalty that has ever been levied by the SFO in a bribery matter, and the first time that the UK's portion of the global settlement is higher than that of the US. With this DPA, the SFO is now playing in the big leagues."
White & Case partner Jonathan Pickworth – an expert in white-collar crime – said: "This is a very significant penalty and far greater than anything we have seen in the UK before. We will know more after the hearing but assuming that the DPA is approved, this will be a feather in the cap of the director of the SFO David Green and the SFO."
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