COMMENT | When the news surfaced in 2015 that Sarclad - a Rotherham-based private technology company - was rumoured to be the first to sign a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) with the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO), it sparked a raft of issues over the future of justice in corporate cases.

It all started when Sarclad and a few other companies were invited by the SFO to attend DPA negotiations after an investigation was launched into irregularities in their business conduct - including allegations of bribery prohibited in the UK under the Bribery Act 2010 - across a number of jurisdictions.

At that time, it was vehemently argued that...