Fraudbuster aims to lead a so solid crew

The new boss of the SFO is an old hand at the game

The Deacon case, that was good fun," laughs Robert Wardle, the new director of the Serious Fraud Office. An old hand at the organisation, he clearly enjoys his job and fondly recalls the lighter side of some of his previous investigations.

The rather bizarre case he is talking about involved a former solicitor, Charles Deacon, sentenced to nine years in 1996 for his part in an "advance fee" fraud.

"He pretended he was acting for the CIA," explains Wardle. "He had a wonderful, presentational sort of certificate from the previous President Bush, thanking him for his work, but it was a forgery. We found the draft on his computer."

Wardle's new job, which he starts this week, is a natural progression for the 51-year-old, who is himself a former solicitor. He is one of the few SFO employees to have been at the organisation since it was set up, exactly 15 years ago, in response to the rise in financial crime in the 1980s.

As its name suggests, the SFO looks at the most serious white-collar crime, cases that involve frauds worth more than £1m, or are very complex or high profile. It also takes into account the effect of such crimes on the wider economy. "One of the things we're looking at increasingly is the effect on public confidence in financial and other institutions in the UK," says Wardle. "There is a real importance in maintaining that sort of confidence."

In his time, Wardle has crossed swords with Asil Nadir, former head of the collapsed conglomerate Polly Peck, at least from a distance. Nadir is wanted on fraud charges but has fled to Northern Cyprus. He would still be charged if he were to set foot in the UK.

Wardle also led the Co-operative Wholesale Society case, in which two former managers were last year convicted of corruption. Another defendant, entrepreneur Andrew Regan, is awaiting a retrial after the jury was discharged before reaching a verdict on a charge of theft.

The epic Guinness saga also features on Wardle's CV. Four defendants, including former chief executive Ernest Saunders and property tycoon Gerald Ronson, were found guilty of theft and false accounting in 1990. They are still appealing after years spent trying to overturn their convictions.

As the SFO's new director, Wardle has to drop his direct involvement in such cases. Instead, he will be the public face of the organisation. This was a role well filled by Wardle's popular predecessor, Ros Wright. But even if he appears unused to being in the spotlight, Wardle's friendly manner should help to maintain the open atmosphere Wright fostered.

Wardle is taking his first steps into the public arena in the week that Stephen Hinchliffe is sentenced after pleading guilty to conspiracy to defraud at the retail company Facia Group. The judge has indicated that the former Facia tycoon will get a suspended sentence, but the SFO is likely to ask the Attorney General to appeal.

This is also a time of unprecedented expansion for the SFO, which is gaining new powers to prosecute cartels and tackle cross-border crime. The Government has given it extra funds for these tasks; from this year's £23m, funding will rise to £35m the year after next. But the SFO's resources are stretched.

"We're not at breaking point," Wardle says. "But it's probably fair to say that we're seeing [but not pursuing] cases we could have taken on if our resources were not already taken up with existing investigations."

If the fraud does not meet the SFO's strict criteria, and is out of the jurisdiction of the specialist fraud squad of the City of London Police, there is no one else left to take on the job. Police officers around the country who once worked on fraud cases have been reassigned to deal with terrorism, murder and other violent crime. "In the old days, those cases would have been taken on by the fraud squads," says Wardle. "Nowadays they may not be done by anybody. It is now easier to commit fraud across different jurisdictions, using modern technology and the internet to advertise in countries all over the world."

The SFO is full of skilled financial investigators, both lawyers and accountants. But it needs the police to carry out interviews and make arrests.

"Even in SFO cases, we've had difficulty because some police forces haven't got the necessary expertise and resources available," he says.

Plans to set up a national fraud squad have been scrapped. Instead, the SFO and the City of London police have proposed a compromise that would see them joining forces. It is hoped that the Home Office will provide funding for new premises and more police officers. The combined forces have a burgeoning caseload of financial crime to deal with, especially in the South-east, where the shortage of specialist police officers is at its worst. However, the two organisations are still waiting for a response from the Government to their proposals.

"There are some concerns in the Home Office as to [the partnership's] effect," admits Wardle, "but I think it will make the best use of our resources and those of the City of London police."

When lobbying, he will benefit from the goodwill generated after years of stability at the SFO under Ros Wright. But it was not always this way. In the organisation's early days, setbacks in the prosecution of cases involving the Maxwell empire, Blue Arrow and Brent Walker led to the SFO's being dubbed the "Serious Farce Office" by the satirical magazine Private Eye. The title was warmed up last year after three directors of the DIY retailer Wickes, including the company's former chairman and chief executive, were tried on fraud charges and found not guilty.

In response, Wardle points to the SFO's conviction rate of 71 per cent, arguing that there has been "disproportionate" attention given to cases where prosecutions have not proved successful.

"When it was set up, the SFO had new powers and new ways of doing things," he says. "We were on a learning curve. Some things didn't go right. Any new organisation bringing together lawyers, accountants, civil servants and police officers was always going to have an interesting time melding them all." And he adds staunchly: "We've always done a solid job."