The United Kingdom Serious Fraud Office is to be given access to offshore banks

Some of the world’s most secretive offshore banks are to allow the Serious Fraud Office to examine their customers’ private statements as investigators widen their inquiry into the collapse of the Icelandic Bank Kaupthing.

The global investigation could allow investigators to use a little known power to force banking, property and retail tycoons to tell all they know about the bank’s downfall. If they fail to disclose their knowledge or produce documents asked for, they could be put in prison.

The Serious fraud Office investigators are understood to have met very little resistance from banking authorities in Luxembourg, Switzerland and the Turks and Caicos islands that have traditionally protected their clients’ personal information.

The Serious Fraud Office is proposing to use “Section 2 “ powers to compel people to talk even though what they say cannot be used in a court of law.

Under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice Act 1987, the Serious Fraud Office, if it believes there are reasonable grounds to suspect an offence has been committed involving serious or complex fraud or corruption, can force individuals, banks, financial institutions, accountants or other professionals that may have a duty of confidence to their clients to hand over material and answer questions.

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