Bill set to target white-collar crime

DETENTION PERIODS for people arrested for questioning by gardaí could be lengthened if proposed legislation is implemented.

The draft Heads of Bill for the Criminal Procedure Bill were approved by Government earlier this week, Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern said yesterday and it was hoped the Bill would be published in the new year.

The aim of the proposed legislation was to give gardaí extra powers to tackle white collar crime, he said.

If introduced, it would make it possible for gardaí to arrest a person for questioning, detain them for some of the time allowed for the particular offence involved, release them and then detain them again one or more times for the remainder of the detention period.

It would also mean that time spent by an arrested person waiting for their solicitor while in custody would not count toward their detention period and would not be “wasted”, the Minister said. This would lengthen the overall time a person would spend in custody.

The complexity of recent investigations had shown it was not possible to complete questioning and check facts in one period of detention, Mr Ahern said.

The Bill would also give gardaí a range of powers to require witnesses, who were not suspects, to answer questions and provide information.

It would also stipulate the form in which information provided by banks and other institutions would be given to investigating gardaí.

They would be required to produce the material with a certificate or statement of evidence identifying and indexing the relevant documentation and allowing for its admissibility as evidence.

This would prevent the “dumping” of large volumes of documents, as had happened in the investigation into Anglo Irish Bank, the Minister said.

“During recent investigations, large numbers of documents have been provided to the gardaí without any effort to index the material or to certify the material in a manner that would allow their admissibility in court as evidence without the need for witnesses to prove them,” Mr Ahern said.

“The sheer volume of documentation to be sifted has been a source of delay.

“I believe this proposed Bill, although largely procedural in nature, will be of assistance in facilitating the investigation and prosecution of crime, in particular white collar crime,” Mr Ahern said.

He said he would like to “finish the Bill” before the next election.