White collar crime suspects face longer detentions

The Department of Justice is looking into extending the terms of detention for suspects of white collar crime, according to Justice Minister Alan Shatter.

The outgoing director of the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE), Paul Appleby, said the 24-hour detention period currently in legislation posed serious challenges for investigations into complex cases.

“I very much welcome Paul Appleby’s comments,” Mr Shatter said.

“We commenced some months ago in the Department of Justice a review of the criminal law with regard to the holding of suspects in detention. This law has developed in a fragmented way and is contained in different pieces of legislation.

“It is relevant not only to white collar crime but to crime right across the board and I expect that review to be completed in October and I also expect that then it is likely we will also bring new legislation before the Houses of the Oireachtas.”

Mr Shatter said they have been engaged with An Garda Síochána in the context of this issue.

“The law on the detention of suspects is varied right across the board,” he said.

“In some instances a suspect can be detained for 24 hours, in other instances for three days, and in other instances for seven days.

“There is a lack of coherence to this area of the law. It has developed piecemeal over a number of decades and what I want to do is bring before the Houses of the Oireachtas a new comprehensive, up-to-date statute which sets out the law very clearly and which is consistent.

“I expect it will include changes to the law in the white collar crime area. I don’t want to prejudge the review report that I expect to receive in October.”

Mr Appleby made the comments to RTÉ on the day of his retirement. His replacement is Ian Drennan, the chief executive of the Irish Auditing & Accounting Supervisory Authority — a position he has held since 2004.

Prior to his current role, Mr Drennan was the head of compliance at the ODCE between 2001 and 2004. He qualified as an associate of the Chartered Certified Accountants in 1992. From there he worked at the Comptroller & Auditor General’s office for seven years, which included a stint on the DIRT inquiry. He also briefly worked at the Department of Finance as an auditor on European structural funds.

Mr Drennan takes up his role as director of the ODCE today.