One of the world's most prominent whistleblower attorneys tells IBTimes UK about the differences between US and UK whistleblower protection (Photo: Reuters)
One of the world's most prominent whistleblower attorneys tells IBTimes UK about the differences between US and UK whistleblower protection (Photo: Reuters)

The only way to prevent and root out large scale financial and company scandals is by installing bounty programmes and protection systems that reward those who risk their careers to flag up wrongdoing, says one of the world's most prominent whistleblower attorneys.

In the US, there are a number programmes, such as ones with the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) coupled with the protection through the Dodd-Frank Act, since 2010.

The programmes allow whistleblowers to not only be rewarded for information, depending on the significance of information and how much it results in recovery for the government or shareholders, but also protects them employer retaliation, such as dismissal or being investigated themselves.

However, the UK lags behind rewarding or protecting whistleblowers.

Reuben Guttman is one of the world's most prominent whistleblower attorneys and a director at Grant & Eisenhofer. He has served as counsel in some of the largest recoveries under the False Claims Act and has recovered billions of dollars for the government from fraudulent mortgage assignments and a number of pharmaceutical firms.

In 2012, he represented one of the four main whistleblowers in a case against GSK that returned over $3bn to the government and here he speaks with IBTimes UK exclusively.

For the full interview, check out the video at the top of the page or on IBTimes TV

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