header-logo header-logo

Another bad idea

29 July 2010 / Peter Binning
Issue: 7428 / Categories: Opinion , Criminal
printer mail-detail

The government is intent on creating a new “super agency” to tackle the perceived shortcomings of the current multi-agency system for investigating and prosecuting fraud and related commercial crime.

The CPS, not drastic change, is the solution for tackling business crime,
says Peter Binning

The government is intent on creating a new “super agency” to tackle the perceived shortcomings of the current multi-agency system for investigating and prosecuting fraud and related commercial crime. The proposed new Economic Crime Agency is a wrongheaded approach. Instead what is needed is a selective and innovative set of amendments to current laws on plea bargaining and sentencing for business crime.

The existing organisations should be expanded where possible rather than creating a new body. The redundant ones can be shut down. Any new agency would require huge investment in people and resources and there would be inevitable delay in forging a new identity and statutory framework. What is needed is a reliable and stable organisation backed by practical legal powers. Why not develop the now quarter century old Crown

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
back-to-top-scroll