Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Fraud boss wants phone taps used to convict insider dealers

Britian’s top fraud investigator wants more phone tapping and other forms of “directed surveillance” to combat insider dealing and share-ramping.

Robert Wardle, director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), said there was a strong case for allowing phone-intercept evidence to be admitted in court so that “real” crimes such as insider dealing could be more easily prosecuted.

The SFO boss warned that unless measures were taken, the reputation of London as one of the world’s leading financial centres could be undermined. (more)