Varadkar asks for package to fight white collar crime

New laws to grant immunity to whistleblowers, a new Garda unit to investigate corporate crimes and changes to the way evidence is brought to court could all form part of a package of measures to combat white collar crime.

The suggestions are made in a discussion document circulated to Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan and Minister for Enterprise Frances Fitzgerald last week by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's office.

Mr Varadkar’s office sent the document to his Ministers with a request that they return with a package of proposals in late September.

“There is ongoing public concern about the investigation and prosecution of white collar crime. There is a need to review the processes and procedures so that such crime can be more effectively investigated and, where appropriate, prosecutions taken,” Mr Varadkar wrote.

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He said he wished to “give an added impetus” to work already under way “and also explore what other changes might be made”.

“The development of a package of measures would help to enhance public faith in the Government’s determination to prioritise the fight against white collar crime, and the protection and enhancement of our international reputation as a centre of best business practice,” he says.

In the accompanying document, also seen by The Irish Times, Mr Varadkar suggests that the two departments consider a number of significant reforms.

The document says that there are “some relatively simple changes that could assist in the investigation and trial of white collar crime. These reforms have the potential to streamline the investigative and trial process to make prosecutions more efficient and more effective.”

Criminal activities

Amongst these, it says, is that whistleblowers could be granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for their testimony “where this assists in the more effective suppression and prosecution of criminal activities”. Such immunity could be restricted to the first person to come forward, it says.

Mr Varadkar also asks Mr Flanagan to consider setting up a new unit in the Garda to tackle “organised crime, cybercrime, serious fraud and suspicious financial transactions”.

A new specialist division in the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions could also be set up, the document says.

It suggests that the rules of evidence could be changed to allow for computer-generated business records to be admissible in court, removing the requirement that everything be provided in paper, and also to simplify the rules on admissibility of the paper trails often central to white collar crime trials. A pre-trial process could also make the actual trials more efficient.

The paper from Mr Varadkar also suggests changes to corporate governance laws, highlighting the lack of oversight in the Irish financial system compared to the UK.

"The two most critical aspects of the UK oversight regime do not currently apply in Ireland: adequate stewardship by institutional investors, and oversight by a Financial Reporting Council, " the document says.

Stewardship function

"It would, therefore, make sense for the Irish Central Bank to take on the stewardship function for the funds sector here.

“UK institutional investors must adhere to a stewardship code, which sets out the principles they should follow when ensuring the companies in which they invested their clients’ money are complying with the corporate governance code. Stewardship aims to ensure that funds are invested in a satisfactory manner for the client.”

In addition, the paper says that UK financial institutions are subject to the Financial Reporting Council, “which names and shames institutional investors who do not adhere to the stewardship code. “

“In Ireland we have not adopted the stewardship code and there is no Irish statutory body that performs the oversight functions of the Financial Reporting Council. The US, however, is already in the process of introducing this model,” the paper says.