New laws to tackle white-collar crime

BANKING, corporation and finance officials face up to five years in prison if they commit any of a range of new white-collar crimes.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter said he was eager to push through legislation to assist current investigations, including the troubled Anglo probe, and any future investigations. He said garda inquiries had been stymied by a reluctance of witnesses to make statements and that “severe delays” had been caused by claims of legal privilege over documents being sought by detectives.

He said where documentation has been provided it had often been unsorted, requiring gardaí to spend “an enormous amount of time sifting through it”.