The Gazette 1991

g a z e t t e

a p r i l 1991

time was fast approaching, if indeed it had not already arrived, when a section dealing exclusively with fraud would have to be established in his own Office in which specialised in-house skills in areas such as banking, account- ancy and computing were available. It would probably be sufficient for the present if the legal staff in such a section underwent a period of training in those disciplines but he suspected that the employment of fully qualified persons may become necessary sooner rather than later. At present with existing staffing levels it was not feasible for a Legal Assistant dealing with a complex fraud case to give it the exclusive attention it deserved and indeed he would usually have murder, rape and robbery files demanding his urgent attention at the same time. Finally, the Director made brief references to the Law of Evidence, problems of territorial jurisdiction, and criminal procedure. In relation to the Law of Evidence he stated that the problems identified in Myers case had been greatly exacerbated by the advent of the micro chip, the micro fiche and the magnetic tape. Draft legislation in this difficult area was, he under- stood, at an advanced stage. Even more difficult problems of a jurisdictional nature arose from the increasingly international character of fraudulent financial and commercial transactions. In relation to criminal procedure, he was greatly attracted by the provisions of section 4 of the UK Criminal Justice Act 1987. The Director considered that in relation to preliminary examinations generally, there was an un- answerable case for their abolition in the case of serious and complex fraud. The Director of Public Pro- secutions concluded by stating that the investigation and prosecu- tion of serious fraud cases in Ireland was fraught with serious difficulty. • LAWOF EVIDENCE: TERRITORIAL JURISDICTION; CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS While not advocating a total abolition of the right to silence or the c r ea t i on, of an absolute obligation to self-incriminate, the Director considered it odd that a person, believed to be involved in a minor road traffic offence, could be obliged under pain of imprisonment to admit that he was driving the vehicle at the relevant time, thereby supplying the missing link in the chain of evidence against him, but a person suspected of swindling scores of persons of millions of pounds was not obliged to say whether or not he made a particular entry in an account or caused a particular withdrawal to be made. The rule against self-incrimination did not prevent a suspect having to provide what was often an ex- tremely incriminating sample of his blood or urine under the Road Traffic Code, again under pain of severe penalties. Other provisions enable fingerprints and swabs to be taken which may well result in a conviction for serious crime. The provisions of section 20 of the Finance Act, 1936 have, for over half a century, been a most valuable weapon in the prosecution of customs offences. The Director saw no logical reason why the responses to questions properly asked in the course of a fraud investigation by a person duly authorised to do so by an Act of the Oireachtas should not be ad- missible in evidence, if we were really serious about the investiga- tion of serious fraud. COMBINED INVESTIGATIVE AND PROSECUTIONAL FACILITY The Director raised the question whether or not Ireland should have a combined investigative and pro- secutorial facility akin to the UK Serious Fraud Office. He knew that that the UK Office operated extremely well and efficiently. He meant no reflection on that Office when he said that on balance, for Ireland, he considered that, in this jurisdiction at least, the separation of the investigative and the prosecutorial functions and the preservation of the independence of each from each other were of the very great importance indeed. The Director considered that the

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