‘Trading in influence’ to be made a criminal offence

New corruption offences will be created in legislation that will address recommendations made by the Mahon tribunal, Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan has said.

Details of the Criminal Justice (Corruption Offences) Bill discussed at Cabinet on Wednesday included “trading in influence” and “knowingly or recklessly making a payment that would facilitate a corruption offence”, as well as the use of confidential information.

“The Bill will go a long way towards meeting Ireland’s obligations under a number of international anti-corruption instruments, and will also address a number of recommendations made by the Mahon tribunal,” Mr Flanagan said.

He said he had made anti-corruption measures to deal with so-called “white collar” crime a priority since becoming Minister for Justice in the recent reshuffle of Cabinet positions by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

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Mr Flanagan said the Bill would be advanced in the autumn as part of a “broader, cross-Government package to tackle corruption”.

He said technical amendments were required, but the Bill would be published in the near future.