Brian O'Shea
Question:24 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the steps, if any, he has taken to tackle white collar crime; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25161/98]
Written Answers - White Collar Crime.
In March of this year, I obtained the approval of the Government for the drafting of legislation which will radically reform the law on fraud and dishonesty. The Criminal Justice (Fraud Offences) Bill is currently being drafted and I intend to bring it before the Oireachtas in the first half of 1999. The Bill will create a new offence of theft to replace the existing common law offence of larceny, numerous statutory offences of larceny and the statutory offences of embezzlement, fraudulent conversion and obtaining by false pretences; create new offences to deal with dishonest behaviour not properly covered by existing legislation; create new offences of forgery to replace the existing law of 1913; create new offences of counterfeiting to replace the existing law of 1861; provide a new power for the Garda Síochána to obtain search warrants for documentary evidence of offences of fraud and dishonesty; contain provisions to enable Ireland to adopt an important EU Convention on Fraud (the Convention on the Protection of the European Communities' Financial Interests, and three protocols to that convention); and bring together in one consolidated statute the main offences of fraud and dishonesty.
This Bill will amount to a fundamental root and branch overhaul of the State's fraud laws — many of which are in place since the beginning of the century. The Bill, when enacted, will put the criminal justice system in a much stronger position to tackle the issue of white collar crime, with appropriate laws containing severe penalties, including long prison sentences, to back them up. Let there be no doubt about it, this legislation will demonstrate in the strongest possible terms that this Government is not soft on white collar crime.