BKM506900 - Governance protocol: impact of criminal investigation on escalation process

Where there is an ongoing criminal investigation relating to a tax matter (for example where a bank is under criminal investigation for a failure to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion), HMRC will normally postpone any consideration of whether a bank has breached the Code until the criminal proceedings conclude. This is to prevent the investigation and proceedings from being prejudiced. Any Code concerns that remain will be addressed once the outcome of the proceedings is known.