Election 2010: Tories to scrap Serious Fraud Office

George Osborne says a Tory Government would create an Economic Crime Agency to tackle white-collar crime and bin institutions like the SFO.

The agency would also take over the "work of investigation and prosecuting serious crime" done by the Fraud Prosecution Service, the Revenue & Customs Division and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), the shadow chancellor told The Sunday Telegraph. Under Tory plans for financial reform, companies would be made liable for the actions of rogue traders and economic fraudsters on their payroll. At present, under laws dating back to the 19th century, companies can claim innocence of crimes carried out by individual employees. Osborne told The Sunday Telegraph: "We are very, v...