MINISTER FOR Justice Alan Shatter will today publish legislation imposing sentences of up to five years on those who fail to co-operate in the provision of essential documents or information to assist a white-collar crime investigation.
The Minister will introduce the Criminal Justice Bill 2011 in the Dáil next Wednesday, in line with a commitment in the programme for government to deliver legislation on white-collar offences within 100 days of taking office.
The Bill breaks new legislative ground in providing for the 24-hour period of detention by gardaí for serious offences to be broken up into segments.
At present, there is provision for a break from midnight to 8am but this Bill provides that, for a specified range of white-collar offences, the suspect can be temporarily released after three or four hours, for example, to facilitate further investigation.
The complexity normally associated with white-collar crime and the volume of data frequently involved means that it is not always possible to carry out thorough questioning and check all relevant facts in a single 24-hour period.
Outlining the background to the Bill, Mr Shatter said: “When in opposition I was hugely concerned at the length of time the investigations were taking, into Anglo Irish and the other banking issues related to it. On my first day in the department I inquired as to the progress being made and where there were areas of difficulty.”
He was concerned, not only about banking issues but “other revelations in respect of other individuals that had been in the public domain in respect of which prosecutions had also not been taken”.
As a result, this legislation had been given priority in the department: “The Attorney General’s office also gave it priority.”
He added: “The objective is to complete the enactment of this legislation in both the Dáil and the Seanad before the summer recess”.
The Minister indicated that, once enacted, the legislation can be availed of to assist investigations already under way as well as those which may be embarked upon in the future.
New powers are proposed in the Bill whereby gardaí can apply to the District Court for an order to require individuals or companies with relevant information to produce documents, answer questions or make a statement in relation to a specific investigation.
The practice of “snowing” the Garda investigators with masses of documentation is to be dealt with by imposing a requirement to categorise this information in advance.
In recent investigations, large quantities of material have been provided to gardaí without any indexing or certification such as would allow it to be admissible in court as evidence without the need for witnesses to prove its authenticity.
The sheer volume of documentation has been a source of delay and the Bill provides that the District Court may order the supplier of the material to identify and categorise it as appropriate.
There will be measures to prevent delays arising from a refusal to disclose a document on the basis of legal privilege by permitting investigators to have recourse, again to the District Court, to determine whether the claim of privilege is justified.
A new offence will be created relating to the failure to report information to the Garda. A similar provision is contained in the Offences Against the State Act, but this is now being extended to white-collar crime.
Persons who fail to pass on information to the Garda, which would help to prevent a relevant offence or assist in the arrest or prosecution of an offender, can themselves be subject to a fine or imprisonment for up to five years, or both.
