Wednesday, February 24, 2021
After three years of uncertainty over the Serious Fraud Office’s (“
SFO”) powers to obtain documents located overseas, the UK Supreme Court has clarified the extraterritorial effect of the legislation facilitating that power domestically. The Supreme Court held that KBR, Inc., the U.S. engineering, procurement and construction company, was not required to provide the SFO with documents that were located overseas during a criminal investigation into its UK subsidiary, KBR Ltd.
The overturning of the High Court’s decision is significant in that it negates the misplaced request made by the SFO pursuant to section 2(3) of the Criminal Justice Act 1987 (the “