Inaccurate accounting at a Balfour Beatty subsidiary has seen the Serious Fraud Office issue it first ever civil recovery order, costing the construction business over £2.25m.

The SFO issued the order after Balfour Beatty brought attention to inaccurate accounting at a subsidiary entity during the construction of the Bibliotheca project in Alexandrina, Egypt.

Payment irregularities in relation to completing the project were found by Balfour and the SFO was notified.

In a consent order agreed before the High Court today, Balfour Beatty agreed to a settlement payment of £2.25m together with a contribution towards the costs of the CRO proceedings.

It has also voluntarily agreed to introduce certain compliance systems, and to submit these systems to a form of external monitoring for an agreed period.

The SFO gained new powers from April, which includes the ability to recover property obtained by unlawful conduct.

The SFO does not require a specific offence to be established against a business or individual, merely that the property sought is the proceeds of an unlawful act.

In the case of Balfour Beatty, the SFO investigation concluded that there was no financial benefit to any individual employee and most of the relevant individuals have long since left the company.

It welcomed Balfour Beatty's transparent and responsible approach in self reporting this issue.

'This is a highly significant development in our efforts to reform British corporate behaviour,' said Richard Alderman, director of the SFO.

Further reading:

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