UK Supreme Court Curbs Global Reach Of SFO Probes

U.S. engineering company KBR Inc. doesn't have to give the Serious Fraud Office documents held overseas in a criminal investigation into its U.K. subsidiary, the country's Supreme Court said Friday in a ruling that curbs the international reach of the anti-fraud agency's probes.

The U.K. Supreme Court held the SFO's demand was "invalid," overturning a High Court ruling that legislation granting the anti-fraud agency the power to require an individual under investigation to produce documents relevant to the investigation extends to foreign companies if that business has a "sufficient connection" to the U.K.

The High Court ruling —which rejected KBR's attempt to quash a notice issued by the SFO under section 2 of the Criminal Justice Act 1987 demanding it provide 27 categories of information — was the first time an English court had ruled on the extraterritorial application of a U.K. criminal law enforcer's power to compel those under investigation to turn over documents.