The U.K.’s Serious Organised Crime Agency refused to reveal the names of law firms and insurance companies in order to have hired convicted private investigators who illegally gained information.
SOCA declined to publish the list thus “detrimental†effect “to ongoing investigations and enquiries,†following a request from the U.K. Parliament’s Home Affairs Committee, the national police unit said in a statement posted on its website.
SOCA gave the home Affairs Committee a listing of clients of four private investigators who were jailed last year for using illegal easy methods to get information. The agency asked the panel not to publish the names to avoid prejudicing future investigations, and because there was no finding the companies had broken the law.
Committee Chairman Keith Vaz has given SOCA until Sept. 9 to publish the list or lawmakers will release it themselves.
The list included 22 law firms, along with 10 insurance companies, an oil company and eight companies in financial services, SOCA said in July.
Editors: Anthony Aarons, Eddie Buckle
Copyright 2013 Bloomberg.
