Four years ago, whistleblower service SFO Confidential was launched, which allowed for suspected fraud or corruption to be reported to the body anonymously. However, Pinsent Masons claims that despite the deluge of allegations, a mere dozen were officially investigated; Barry Vitou, a partner at the firm, attributes this to “funding problems”, which mean “the SFO is unable to carry out comprehensive checks on information received.”

SFO core funding has been reduced in recent years, falling from £35.1m in 2009/10 to £33.2m in 2014/15. Pinsent Masons notes that the SFO was struggling to meet proper investigative commitments before the reduction was enacted, meaning an extensive international investigation into claims that GlaxoSmithKline bribed doctors in China, Iraq and Poland had to be scaled back.

The firm believes that recent high-profile corruption cases such as the Barclays/Qatar and Olympus scandals underline the importance of whistleblowers, as both only came to the attention of authorities due to leads provided by insiders.

“It is surprising that so few whistleblower reports have translated into SFO investigations,” says Vitou. “Obviously not all reports will contain sufficiently high quality information needed to justify a full investigation, but the data does suggest that the SFO lacks the resources to pursue all the leads on criminal cases that are available and that it is having to prioritise cases. As a result, it is possible that very large numbers of credible cases could effectively be being shelved.”

Responding to the claims of Pinsent Masons, an SFO spokesperson said “the SFO very much values information from whistleblowers and all reports are assessed by our intelligence unit. We were set up to specialise in only the most complex and serious cases, and if we cannot use the information, we pass it on to other law enforcement agencies where possible.’

Vitou adds that the City of London Police, which is meant to work in conjunction with the SFO to investigate corporate crime, has also been subject to funding cuts. In the year ending June 2014, the force received over 210,000 reports of fraud, but launched only 544 investigations during this time.

“Both the City of London police and the SFO need stable and frankly, increased, funding if white collar crime is to be tackled effectively,” Vitou concludes. “The sheer volume of reports to SFO Confidential and police in the last year makes it clear that employees, business contacts and members of the public are coming forward to provide potential leads; what is now needed are the means to undertake effective investigations.”