Funds Quarterly Legal And Regulatory Update Q4 2011 FD
On 9 August 2011, the main provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 2011 (the "Act"), came into operation, namely Part 1 (other than Section 5), Section 7 (other than paragraph (c)) and Section 8 of Part 2, Part 3 and Schedules 1 and 2.
The Act provides protection for whistleblowers, extends the Garda Sióchána's powers of investigations into suspected breaches and creates a wide range of "serious and complex offences", which attract a penalty of at least five years' imprisonment, in the following areas:-
- banking, investment of funds and other financial activities;
- company law;
- money laundering and financing terrorism;
- theft and fraud;
- bribery and corruption;
- competition and consumer protection;
- cybercrime; and
- the raising and collection of taxes and duties.
The comprehensive nature of the offences covered by the Act demonstrates a commitment to vigorously pursue white-collar crime.
The Act makes provision for the following:-
- the suspension of detention periods of arrested persons on up to two occasions, for not more than four months from the date on which the detention was first suspended, if the Gardaí have reasonable grounds to believe this is necessary to conduct further investigations in order to make more effective use of detention periods;
- District Court order may require the subject to furnish the Gardaí with documents and/or to provide information obtained in the ordinary course of business by answering questions or making a statement for the purposes of investigating relevant offences;
- measures relating to how documents should be furnished to the Gardaí so as to reduce delays associated with the production of large volumes of poorly ordered and uncategorised documents to them in the course of their investigations;
- measures to prevent unnecessary delays in investigations arising from claims of legal privilege; and
- a new offence of failing to provide information to the Gardaí in relation to the prevention or investigation of relevant offences without reasonable excuse. This is however offset by the introduction of strong legal protection for whistleblowers which makes it an offence for employers to penalise an employee (including dismissal, demotion, reduction of wages, etc.) as a result of making a disclosure in good faith in relation to a relevant offence to the Gardaí.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.