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The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has unveiled plans to combat economic crimes, which affects 800,000 victims annually, through a new CPS Economic Crime Strategy 2025. Its five sections include a personnel policy called ‘Our People’ where the CPS aims to ensure staff “have the skills and tools” to prosecute complex economic crime cases, including fraud and corruption.…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) food and drink sector is keeping a close eye on discussions to overhaul EU food regulations through a broad decarbonisation and health plan which will impact food production, processing, packaging, and marketing. The EUs revised ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy, released last May (2020) aims to reduce fossil fuel use and food waste, promoting healthier diets and organic farming.…

The British government says it will consult on new regulations seeking to prevent online advertisements being abused by fraudsters before the end of the year. Caroline Dinenage, minister of state for digital and culture, said in an April 21 written response (1) to a parliamentary question that the UK government is “considering additional legislative and non-legislative solutions to effectively address the harms posed by all elements of online fraud in a cohesive and robust way.”…

The European Commission has unveiled a European Union (EU) Strategy to tackle Organised Crime 2021-2025 (1), a coordinated approach to stop organised crime groups exploiting cross border differences in policing and judicial systems within the 27-country bloc. The EU executive estimates that organised crime costs the EU EUR139 billion a year in lost revenues.…

Two cargo vessels in Norway are being built to pioneer the use of hydrogen fuel cells to power engines as the international shipping industry starts to take measures to reduce its carbon footprint.

A consortium in southwest Norway is tapping a combination of European Union (EU) and government funds to design and build two vessels in what has been given the concept name of the Topeka project.…

The confectionery industry has weathered Covid-19 lockdowns better than many sectors, even seeing a rise in consumer demand across Europe. But producers of fresh bakery products have been hit hard, as have baked goods and confectionery firms that focus on catering.…

Covid-19 has reshaped commercial crime, and one lucrative offence taking a real turn for the worse is tobacco smuggling and counterfeiting. Keith Nuthall reports.

The Covid-19 pandemic has depressed incomes worldwide and forced lower income smokers to look for cheap smokes, which has included counterfeits or smuggled goods.…

After a three-year trial, judge Marco Tremolada acquitted energy companies Eni and Shell and 13 executives from both companies, including Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi, of being associated with graft in Nigeria. In a Milan court March 17, the judge ruled there was no case to answer over the companies’ USD1.3 billion acquisition of Nigeria’s OPL 245 offshore oilfield, amidst allegations that USD1.1 billion of that was pocketed by politicians and middlemen.…

The United Kingdom’s hike in its ‘tap and go’ contactless card payment limit from GBP45 (USD62.78) to GBP100 (USD139.52) announced March 3 could lead to an increase in fraud when banks implement it in a few months, experts are warning. Jeremy Light, independent payments consultant at Finextra, commented in a blog: “The contactless limit is in place to address fraud, so raising the limit must address the impact on fraud and prevent any increase.”…

Former French President Nicholas Sarkozy was sentenced to three years in prison on Monday, March 1, with two years suspended, for corruption and influence peddling. Sarkozy, President between May 2007 and May 2012, was convicted in the 32nd chamber Criminal Court of Paris alongside his former lawyer Thierry Herzog and magistrate Gilbert Azibert, for participating in what presiding judge Christine Mée said was a “corruption pact”.…