White-collar crime - Time for a new process

DISGRACED press baron Conrad Black was jailed for six-and-a-half years by Judge Amy St Eve in the US District Court in Chicago yesterday, following his conviction on three charges of fraud and one of obstructing justice. Black, who still insists he is innocent of all charges, was cleared of racketeering and tax evasion.

Once a voluble pin-up in Thatcher’s Britain, the Canadian fraudster — the Right Honourable The Lord Black of Crossharbour, PC, OC, KCSG to give him his full handle — says he will be able to cope with prison. “Jail will... compound the injustice of this entire vendetta. Prison would be a bore, but quite endurable... and I don’t consider prison shaming.”

Black, infamous for extravagances that would make a Paris Hilton blush, has said that he is taking comfort in God and the writings of “ecclesiastical authors, especially Cardinal Newman”.

The charging, let alone the conviction and jailing, of someone so far up the business food chain in this country would set a precedent as yet unimaginable.

Though we have had various tribunals and inquiries for a lot more than a decade, not one big conviction has resulted, undermining the credibility of the process.

Maybe we should consider the American system where special prosecutors can bring even the most powerful to book. Unless you imagine that Irish business is squeaky clean it is obvious that our system of policing white-collar crime could be dramatically improved.