Cowen ‘must speak to gardaí’ about Anglo call
Denying it was a smear campaign against the former Fianna Fáil leader, Fine Gael’s justice spokesman Alan Shatter said it was “bizarre” that the details of that discussion had not yet been provided to gardaí probing the goings-on at Anglo.
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin dismissed the suggestion, but Mr Shatter said the investigation into what happened at Anglo had been going on for years and that “no investigation should have taken this long”.
“I am approaching this not as a politician but as a lawyer,” he said, adding that the gardaí and Director of Public Prosecutions would need all the information available when dealing with the actions of financial institutions and any possible illegal activity.
“I believe it is of crucial importance that that information is part of the garda file,” he said, adding he was not trying to “smear” Brian Cowen.
He said 100,000 documents had been recovered for examination and 350 witness statements taken, yet the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation has just two civilian forensic accountants employed full-time.
He said there had been an “abysmal failure” by Fianna Fáil to bring the laws on white collar crime up-to-date and if Bernie Madoff had been in Ireland he would playing golf in Marbella rather than in prison in New York.
He said if Fine Gael win the election it was committed to bringing those laws up-to-date within its first year in office to send out a clear message that no one was immune from the legal system.
He also said there should be an obligation on businesses that someone retains important digital information such as computer codes so gardaí could access them as part of any probe.
Mr Shatter also outlined plans to toughen up the laws on sex offenders, saying under Fine Gael plans there would be no automatic remission on sentences and ‘soft’ information, would be made available to gardaí and others involved in child protection.
Electronic tagging would also be introduced, although not retrospectively, while under an equivalent of Sarah’s Law which operates in Britain, parents would be able to inquire with local police over any possible concerns regarding anyone interacting with their children.
