ABSTRACT
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) was formed under the Criminal Justice Act 1987 and began operation in April 1988. It represented the government's response to the first recommendation of the Roskill Report which proposed that the government should consider forming a single body responsible for the detection, investigation and prosecution of serious fraud. While considerable advances have taken place since 1986, simultaneously the environment for fraud investigation and prosecution has become considerably more difficult. In 1999 the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) was reorganized following the Glidewell Review. The CPS Fraud Prosecution Service (CPS FPS) prosecuted the larger cases of fraud and advised the police, particularly the National Lead Force, on their fraud cases. The Serious Organised Crime Agency's (SOCA) function is to tackle serious organized crime. The Fraud Review recommended that there should be a National Fraud Strategic Authority (NFSA) 'to devise a national strategy for dealing with fraud and ensure that it is implemented'.
