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The UK should break its “long-held antipathy” to paying whistleblowers in order to reduce economic crime and prevent hundreds of Britons taking information to the US, the Royal United Services Institute said.
Launching an effective whistleblower payments programme could play a “pivotal role” in reducing white-collar offences, the defence and security think-tank found, adding weight to calls from the Serious Fraud Office for the UK to consider such a scheme.
“Having an insider who can provide the emails and can provide the evidence just changes the game,” Eliza Lockhart, from Rusi, told the Financial Times.
“But it means that you need to get over the idea that a whistleblower is going to be this kind of moralistic hero that we put on a pedestal,” she added.
The UK’s financial regulators looked at paying for information a decade ago in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, but concluded such a scheme was unnecessary.
Tips from the UK make up one of the biggest sources of intelligence from outside America for the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which has been paying informants since 2011. Last year, the US markets watchdog awarded $279mn to a whistleblower, its largest-ever payout.
Still, only 0.5 per cent of whistleblowers contacting the SEC have received a financial reward, counter to the perception that it is common for people to receive...
Delta Air Lines has agreed to pay $8.1 million to settle allegations it violated pandemic aid rules by overpaying executives, according to a Department of Justice press release. The Atlanta-based ...