SFO head to step down

THE head of the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) will step down next summer following a controversial tenure.

Lisa Osofsky, a former FBI lawyer and dual British-American national, will leave the agency next August, concluding a five-year period marked by a mixture of successes and high-profile scandals.

Under her direction, the SFO last week notched up a major win against commodities giant Glencore when the firm was ordered by a judge to pay £281m after pleading guilty to a string of bribery offences across several African states, the largest penalty ever imposed on a company in a UK court.

Last year, the agency also secured a record £874m settlement with French aircraft maker Airbus following a long-running probe into bribery and corruption. But the agency’s integrity came into question this year when convictions of three oil and gas executives at energy group Unaoil were overturned as they had not received a fair trial.

An inquiry pointed out serious failings at the top of the SFO, holding Osofsky ( pictured) partly responsible. A fraud case against two former executives from outsourcing giant Serco collapsed last April. Osofsky was also criticised in 2019 for dropping investigations into engine make r Rolls-Royce and drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline because of ‘insufficient evidence’.