SFO boss Richard Alderman ‘talks of quitting’ in row over new agency

By DAN ATKINSON Updated:

Plans for a powerful new fraud-busting agency have been thrown into chaos as a Whitehall turf war threatens to burst into public view.

Richard Alderman, director of the Serious Fraud Office

Chaotic: The threat of a walkout by Richard Alderman could prove near-fatal for Government plans

Richard Alderman, director of the Serious Fraud Office, has told friends that he will resign rather than see his agency torn apart.

Rumours that a 'second director' may be appointed to oversee a split between SFO investigators and prosecutors have spurred friends of 58-year-old Alderman to insist that he would find this intolerable.

'He would not put up with it,' said one. 'He stays on because he believes in the SFO, in the model of having investigation and prosecution under one roof, and wants to make it work.'

The threat of a walkout by Alderman could prove near-fatal for Government plans for a new Economic Crime Agency, designed to step up the fight against fraud and corruption.

It is already thought that three of what were meant to be the agency's four main constituent parts have fought successfully to be excluded.

The criminal inquiry elements of the the Financial Services Authority and the Office of Fair Trading, along with the detectives of the City of London Police economic crime department all look set to remain independent.

That leaves only the SFO, which now faces dismemberment. It is understood that plans are advanced to rename its investigations section as the ECA and submerge it into the planned National Crime Agency, a 'British FBI'. The prosecutors would then be merged with the Crown Prosecution Service.

Alderman supported the ECA project when it seemed likely that the agency would be based on the SFO model.

But Attorney General Dominic Grieve, thought to be a backer of the merged system, has since lost control of ECA planning to Theresa May's Home Office, which is thought to be much keener on splitting the two roles.

Meanwhile, it is understood that the possible downgrading of the SFO could cause dissent inside the Coalition, with Liberal Democrats fearing it could water down the fight to bring to book British companies that have paid bribes overseas.

The Home Office said: 'No decisions have been taken.'


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