Dawn raids & external investigations

The UK Government has legislated to permit a number of UK authorities to obtain search warrants to 'raid' a business premises.

The potential for a dawn raid to be executed against a company is an everyday reality for many businesses, given the increasing criminalisation of business practices, growing numbers of regulatory criminal offences and the proliferation of money laundering laws and regulations. The prospect of an intervention by UK authorities has increased since the introduction of the Bribery Act 2010 and the corporate offence of failure to prevent bribery, which is mirrored by a corporate offences of failure to prevent tax evasion and failure to prevent fraud, and the expansion of corporate criminal liability.

What is a dawn raid?

A dawn raid is an unexpected visit by the police and/or investigators from another prosecution body to search premises when they suspect the business or an individual has been involved in criminal activity. Investigators typically arrive unannounced first thing in the morning (hence 'dawn' raids) and are always meant to be unexpected to ensure that evidence is best preserved for the search. Investigators often take an aggressive

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