Landmark decision holds that the SFO does not have the power to procure documents from foreign companies outside the jurisdiction.

By Stuart Alford QC and Callum Rodgers

On 5 February 2021, the UK Supreme Court handed down a highly significant judgment in R (on the application of KBR, Inc) v Director of the Serious Fraud Office [2021] UKSC 2. The Court unanimously ruled in favour of KBR, Inc in its appeal of a 2018 High Court judgment, which had permitted the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to use its section 2(3) powers under the Criminal Justice Act 1987 (the 1987 Act) to require foreign companies that were sufficiently connected to the UK to provide documents and other information for the purposes of an SFO investigation.

This is the first case in which the UK courts have ruled on the extraterritorial reach of the SFO’s section 2 powers, which are its primary means of gathering evidence and factual information in support of its criminal investigations into bribery and corruption.