Concerns about fraud and corruption continue to swirl around the construction industry. On 28 November 2021, the Financial Times reported that between 2% and 10% of all spending on the UK government’s £100bn a year infrastructure drive would be lost to fraud, collusion or bribery. But the vulnerability is not limited to construction companies themselves. Banks and professional services firms are under a duty to report reasonable grounds to suspect money laundering to the National Crime Agency. Where there are indicators that a construction company is engaged in fraud or bribery, a report must be made by transactional lawyers, accountants, tax advisers and banks. This can land the construction company and others that turning a blind eye to suspicious conduct in hot water.

For some businesses, strong anti-financial crime controls and devotion of sufficient resources to compliance may have slipped during the pandemic. Movement in the labour market may also mean new persons unfamiliar with anti-financial crime controls now hold key roles, including in contract negotiation. A sustained period of leanness will additionally make any company hungry to win work. These wider factors inevitably increase the exposure of a construction company to fraud and corruption.

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