By Kirstin Ridley and William James
LONDON, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Britain's leading fraudprosecutor needs an extra 19 million pounds ($31.45 million) bythe end of March to help to pay for complex investigations,including a high-profile benchmark fixing inquiry, and a hugedamages suit.
The SFO said on Thursday the extra funding was needed inpart for its inquiry into Libor (London interbank offered rate)benchmark fixing, a probe into Barclays' fundraisingfrom Qatar, a Rolls Royce investigation and to meet costslinked to a 300 million pound damages suit launched by theproperty moguls the Tchenguiz brothers.
"This funding is 'blockbuster' funding for the course of ourinvestigation and prosecution work in the remainder of thisfinancial year," the agency said in a statement.
Solicitor General Oliver Heald said the Serious Fraud Office(SFO), which can request extra cash from the Treasury (financedepartment) as so-called "blockbuster funding" to beef up atight annual budget of around 28 million pounds, needed an 11million pound advance on the 19 million urgently.
"The SFO has incurred higher than anticipated expenditureand a reserve claim has been agreed by HM Treasury as part ofthe supplementary estimate 2013-14 process," Heald, a governmentlawyer, said in a written ministerial statement.
"The advance is required to meet an urgent cash requirementon existing services pending parliamentary approval ...," headded.
The SFO, which last requested such funding five years ago,has already received 5 million pounds in blockbuster funding forthe financial year to March 31.
SFO head David Green, who took over as director in April2012, has been tasked with restoring confidence in the agency bybringing criminals and companies to book after a period ofmismanagement that has damaged the SFO's reputation.
He has staked his reputation on the success of high-profileinvestigations such as the sprawling global investigation intoLibor manipulation.
Emily Thornberry, the opposition Labour Party's "shadowattorney general" or spokeswoman on judicial affairs, said itwas entirely predictable that the scale and pace of budget cutsinflicted on the SFO would make it impossible for the agency toprosecute its caseload.
"This is not a government that takes economic crimeseriously, which is why it is allowing the SFO to stagger fromcrisis to crisis and providing temporary sticking plasters wherewhat is needed is a long-term plan to put it on a sustainablefooting," she said in an emailed statement.