Companies wanting to enter into plea bargains with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) will have to waive privilege rights over previous internal investigations, a solicitor suggested this week, after the SFO completed its first successful prosecution of a British company for overseas corruption.

British bridge contractor Mabey & Johnson was ordered to pay fines and costs totalling £6.6m after pleading guilty to corruption charges and breaching UN sanctions.

The judge commended the firm for its exemplary cooperation with the SFO. It had carried out an internal investigation before it reported the offences to the SFO, and then gave the SFO access to interviews with directors and employees that were gathered as part of the internal investigation.

Fraud expert Louise Delahunty, partner at City firm Simmons & Simmons, said that the SFO will require privilege waivers and full disclosure in order to be satisfied about the corporate transparency of any company’s internal investigation.

She added: ‘This is a landmark result for the SFO and underlines the trend towards more US-style enforcement.’

The SFO has favoured a ‘self-reporting’ regime since director Richard Alderman took over last year.

Alderman commended Mabey & ­Johnson for voluntarily disclosing ­evidence of its crimes and said: ‘I urge other companies who might see some parallels…to come and talk to us and have the matter dealt with quickly and fairly.’