Statement: Senator Bacik calls for Greater Use of Theft Act for White Collar Crime

SENATOR BACIK CALLS FOR GREATER USE OF THEFT ACT FOR WHITE-COLLAR CRIME

Senator Ivana Bacik
Labour Party Seanad leader and Spokesperson on Justice
27th January 2012

Speaking tomorrow Saturday 28th January at a conference on criminal law organised by the Bar Council in Dublin, Senator Ivana Bacik will speak on the need for greater use of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act in the prosecution of white-collar crime, and crimes committed by those engaged in fraud in the banking sector in particular.

Speaking about recent legislation on white collar crime, Senator Bacik will say:

“There is grave public concern about the delays in the criminal investigations into white collar crime; and at the lack of prosecutions arising from what happened in the banking sector. Reckless bankers went on a testosterone fuelled lending spree, which resulted in disastrous consequences for the economy. It should be possible to bring prosecutions in respect of some outrageous malpractice in the banking sector, under section 10 of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001, which provides for the offence of false accounting. Simpler offences such as that could be prosecuted more swiftly than the complex corporate offences that are also under investigation arising from the actions of certain individuals within the banking sector.

“While the Criminal Justice Act 2011 has strengthened garda powers for dealing with white collar crime, existing laws could have dealt with such crime before now. Part of the problem has been a lack of enforcement and the absence of a culture in which white collar crime was taken as seriously as street crime.”

ENDS