New Report from RUSI’s Centre for Finance and Security argues UK should consider paying whistleblowers
A new report authored by RUSI's Centre for Finance Security (CFS) Research Fellow Eliza Lockhart – funded by the Serious Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Evidence (SOC ACE) Research Programme – explores the role of financial rewards for whistleblowers.
The paper, which was launched during an event at RUSI, examines the cash-for-inside-information schemes now being used by US government and regulatory agencies to increase the detection and disruption of financial crime. Eliza identifies a number of lessons for UK and international crime-fighting policymakers. The full report can be accessed here.
In her paper, Eliza argues: “A successful [cash-for-information] pilot programme could reshape political, institutional and cultural attitudes towards financially rewarding whistleblowers, and play a pivotal role in establishing whistleblowing as an integral component in the fight against economic crime.”
Reflecting on the report, Professor Heather Marquette, Director of Serious Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Evidence (SOC ACE), University of Birmingham, said:
Addressing transnational threats is essential for protecting the UK’s national security and development goals, and tackling kleptocracy, illicit finance and corruption is rightly at the heart of our response. To do this, we know we need more data, and while the private sector is already a key ally in addressing the challenge, there are still plenty of enablers of economic crime in the sector hiding behind secrecy. We need whistleblowers to help break down the walls that currently exist to protect malign actors, and we need to think about how best to encourage more whistleblowers to come forward. Eliza's research is an important step towards building a more effective response to economic crime, and SOC ACE is proud to support this project, and the shared fight against the threats that affect us all.
Professor Heather Marquette, Director of Serious Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Evidence (SOC ACE), University of Birmingham,
Also commenting, Serious Fraud Office (SFO) Director, Nick Ephgrave QPM said:
The SFO is committed to delivering swifter justice for victims and combatting threats to the UK’s economy and that means exploring new ways of working and trialling innovative methods to bring criminals to justice and re-coup proceeds of crime faster. But I’m clear that we also need change in the criminal justice system, and this should start with making it easier for whistleblowers to come forward in complex economic crime cases. I am therefore delighted that the Royal United Service Institute’s research recommends this too. I look forward to progressing these ideas.
Nick Ephgrave QPM, Serious Fraud Office (SFO) Director
About RUSI’s Centre for Finance and Security
The Centre for Finance and Security (CFS) was established at RUSI in 2014 by its Founding Director, Tom Keatinge. The CFS specialises in the intersection of finance and security and is currently celebrating ten years of evidence-based research and insight which have provided solutions to some of the biggest challenges in the finance and security landscape.
Its analysis and actionable ideas aim to challenge the status quo and build resilience in the global response to illicit finance. The group’s work covers a range of state- and non-state-based security threats, which it examines through a financial lens across two primary areas: Financial Crime Policy, and Sanctions, State Threats and Economic Security.
To read more about CFS’s work, see here.