Serious Fraud Office seizes Sheffield property after bribery prosecution
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has recovered a property in Sheffield from Dr Guang Jiang, an agent who helped British technology company Sarclad to pay bribes to secure business in China.
The SFO investigated Rotherham-based Sarclad in 2013 and exposed how the company paid bribes to secure £17m worth of contracts to provide technology services to steel production companies between 2004 and 2012.
The majority of these corrupt contracts were facilitated by Dr Jiang, who acted as Sarclad’s agent in China. The company paid £6.5m in penalties for its actions.
SFO investigators have been pursuing Dr Jiang’s criminal assets since he fled to China in 2014, breaching the bail conditions imposed as part of the SFO’s criminal investigation into Sarclad.
The SFO has recovered a flat in Sheffield worth £200,000 and over £8,000 in rental profits. It has previously taken back more than £350,000 from Jiang’s personal and company bank accounts.
The investigation then led to the discovery of the Sheffield flat which had been transferred into the name of one of Dr Jiang’s daughters in an attempt to conceal it, and details of the bank account which contained the rental income for the property.
Lisa Osofsky, Director of the Serious Fraud Office, said: “Criminals will try any means possible to conceal their tainted finances, including hiding dirty money with their closest family members.
“No matter the obstacle, we are committed to obtaining the proceeds of crime for victims and our country. We have recovered over £95m for the British taxpayer in the last year alone.”
A 2019 prosecution resulted in the acquittal of Michael Sorby, Adrian Leek and David Justice of corruption charges related to the Sarclad investigation.
