Solicitors, accountants may have to report suspicious transactions

The Minister for Justice is considering forcing Irish company formation agents to report suspicious transactions to the Garda. Mr O'Donoghue told a European Council of justice and home affairs ministers in Brussels that the Department of Justice is already working on legislation to bring solicitors, accountants, auctioneers and estate agents under the 1994 Criminal Justice Act.

This would oblige them to report transactions over £10,000 which they consider suspicious.

The Government plans to make trafficking of illegal immigrants a criminal offence, according to the Minister. He said yesterday he would "criminalise and provide appropriate harsh penalties in relation to those who traffic in illegal immigrants".

Measures to criminalise those activities are included in the Refugee Act passed by the last government, but not yet implemented. Ministers are expected to discuss today the setting up of a central database of the fingerprints of asylum-seekers. The database, called Eurodac, would be used to ascertain whether any application for asylum had been made. It is expected that some countries will insist that the database contain information on all illegal immigrants.

The meeting heard that an estimated 500,000 women and children are brought into the EU every year for prostitution. Most of these come from eastern Europe, Africa and Asia. Mr O'Donoghue said the issue of illegal immigrants was "a problem which we all face". And while it was a relatively recent problem in Ireland, the role of organised crime in the trade was a particularly pernicious aspect.

The ministers held an open discussion on organised crime and were told that the global trade in illegal drugs is believed to be four times the size of the legal pharmaceutical industry.

Mr O'Donoghue outlined recent Irish laws targeting drug-traffickers and money-laundering.

Last month the head of the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB), Chief Supt Fachtna Murphy, made a presentation to EU officials on the operation of the bureau. Mr O'Donoghue said the success of the CAB meant other European member-states were eager to introduce similar measures.