DIRECTOR of Public Prosecutions James Hamilton has said he is in favour of examining whether complex and lengthy white-collar criminal trials might be held before panels of judges or juries of people with financial qualifications.
Mr Hamilton said while trial by a jury drawn from the public was enshrined in the constitution, Ireland’s move away from light touch financial regulation would likely result in many more white-collar criminal cases emerging.
In that context, he would be surprised if the issue of judicial or expert juries did not arise soon. He believed juries drawn from the public could often easily decide on cases involving corruption of bribery. However, other cases may not be as straightforward.
“Where the problem would arise would be if understanding the nature of a fraud that was carried out involved understanding the nature of complex financial instruments,” Mr Hamilton told RTE’s The Week In Politics last night.
“And there’s a second problem as well, and that is that potentially some of these cases could become extremely lengthy. The idea of asking members of the public to give up, perhaps, a year of their time to serve on a jury creates a real difficulty.”
He said while he “believed in” juries, some exceptional measures may need to be taken in the area of financial crimes. It was possible new legislation could allow a judge to order a case be heard before “a panel of judges” or “a jury of people with qualifications” who understood the issues in question.
“The difficulty I see in that though is because our constitution provides for trial by jury; I think it is difficult to see how we could do this.”
He said recent events meant more Irish people now viewed white-collar crime as “real crimes with real consequences”. While the Irish justice system had improved in relation to dealing with white-collar crime, there are “still some other things that we need to do”.
He was outlining his views now because recent events had ushered in a change of climate, one in which Ireland was moving away from light touch regulation.
Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Eamon Ryan said on the same television programme that Ireland should not rule out exploring the options around jury make-up in complex white-collar criminal trials, though it would probably require a constitutional amendment.
“I think it is hugely important for our judicial system that we are seen now to treat white-collar crime in the same way we treat a young 17-year-old who is robbing a shop or doing other sort of similar crime. We cannot have one law for the rich and one for the poor.”
Mr Hamilton said it was time to examine the issue of introducing a general Whistle Blowers charter. A decision was made in 2007 not to roll out a general charter because it might “cut across our system of light regulation”.
A general charter was important because in many cases if there was no whistleblower witness, it was impossible to build a case.
“The problem is in the absence of that, people will be afraid to come forward because for example they may be victimised at work. They may lose their job and even though they may be able to bring an Unfair Dismissals case the damages which they might get could be limited to two years employment which could be a lot less than the actual loss they have.”