Small But Mighty: An Update On The International Anti-Corruption Prosecutorial Taskforce

In March 2025, British, French and Swiss authorities announced a new international alliance – the International Anti-Corruption Prosecutorial Taskforce ("Taskforce") — to tackle bribery and corruption. Bracewell covered the launch and vision in this previous alert.

Roughly six months on, regulators provided insight on the Taskforce's progress and ongoing goals at the recent Global Investigations Summit. They reinforced that the core aim of the Taskforce is combatting bribery and corruption worldwide, emphasizing the focus on efficiency, measurable results, pooling resources and sharing intelligence rather than specific jurisdictions or industries.

The authorities discussed their countries' individual commitments to tackling bribery and corruption, and the power of combining these efforts. For example, Matthias Portmann, Chief Operating Officer at the Swiss Attorney General's Office highlighted that "fighting corruption is still a very high priority for Switzerland"; indeed, Switzerland is in the process of implementing a mechanism equivalent to deferred prosecution agreements in the United Kingdom and United States. Sarah Chouraqui, Head of Fraud, Bribery and Corruption at the UK's Serious Fraud Office emphasized that the Taskforce builds upon these individual commitments and solidifies the history of collaboration between the three nations, noting that the "vast majority of criminality investigated is transnational" and that "together, we are force multipliers in the fight against corruption."

Regulators shared that the Taskforce already has a "healthy pipeline of cases," but the details of those cases are confidential, and realistically we should expect results in the medium to long-term (i.e., two to four years at a minimum), not in the immediate future.

Although authorities from other nations have expressed interest in joining, the Taskforce representatives affirmed that it will "remain a trio" for the time being. While there will be no "shared legal jurisdiction," it will continue to rely heavily on mutual legal assistance requests and traditional requirements to meet necessary jurisdictional thresholds. For example, Philippe Jaeglé, deputy of France's National Financial Prosecution Office ("PNF") said that the PNF utilizes international tools to obtain evidence in one out of three cases, citing the PNF's recent collaboration with Ukrainian law enforcement in a corruption investigation into Surys, a French-based security technology company, in relation to an alleged conspiracy to help a Ukrainian public official embezzle funds through an Estonian intermediary. The collaboration between the PNF and Ukrainian law enforcement led to a €18.4 million fine and compensation payment of €3.8 million to the Ukrainian Government. The settlement also requires the company to spend €700,000 on a three-year long compliance programme overseen by the French Anti-Corruption Authority.

In sum, it appears that while the Taskforce remains relatively small, it intends to be mighty in the fight against bribery and corruption. Thus, despite some international actors shifting their enforcement priorities, companies should still ensure their anti-bribery and corruption policies and procedures are up to date and fully implemented, both at home and abroad.

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