(CB):...The
Conservative manifesto promised that the Government would,
“strengthen Britain’s response to white collar crime”,
which was a welcome statement. Less welcome was the manifesto
promise to incorporate the Serious Fraud Office into
the National Crime Agency. This is not mentioned
in the gracious Speech; it is perhaps a good thing if it does not
surface again. It was widely opposed and, just this week, the
Serious Fraud Office has taken action against a major British
bank for fraud and unlawful financial assistance. It has charged
the bank itself, a former boss of Barclays Bank and three
ex-directors. This is the first time that a UK bank has faced
criminal charges directly related to the financial crisis of
2008. The Serious Fraud Office will, I hope, be left to carry on
with its important work...
(LD):...As the
noble Baroness, Lady Stern, pointed out, the Lord Chancellor
should not abolish the Serious Fraud Office. That proposal was
not in the Queen’s Speech, and I hope it has been buried. It is
an improved organisation, not a perfect one. It is a prosecuting
agency in a field where successful prosecution is extremely
difficult. It would not fit in the National Crime Agency, which is a police-led
investigating body—so I hope that this proposal is a dead parrot,
to quote an old phrase. However, it might be an opportunity to
look again at the funding model of the Serious Fraud Office which
is frankly bizarre. More than half of its spending does not come
from its annual budget because the Treasury approves its major
prosecutions on a one-off basis. It is not an ideal arrangement
and it leads to short-term decisions about the recruitment of
legal support for the prosecutions that it undertakes...
(LD):...The National Crime Agency, in evidence to the
Justice Committee also said that the EAW system is,
“quick, effective, and an excellent example of co-operation and
mutual recognition in criminal matters”.
This is what we are about to throw away, along with a long and
valuable history of co-operation in combating terrorism and
crime...
(Con):
My Lords, I want to raise an issue of great concern to many, that
of victims of modern-day slavery. I welcome the commitments in
the gracious Speech to continuing to work at an international
level to tackle this terrible crime. However, I believe we must
also continue to look for improvements in how we address this
appalling abuse here in the United Kingdom. At the end of March,
the National Crime Agency published figures for the number of
potential victims referred to the National Referral Mechanism in
2016. There were 3,805 potential victims in total, an increase of
17% compared with the year before...
(LD):...It is frustrating not to be able to
respond to so many points made this afternoon. I simply wonder
aloud whether other noble Lords had the experience that I did of
being lobbied extremely hard during the election—in our
constituency headquarters while trying to match a deliverer with
a delivery round which was convenient to him and also sort out a
whole load of canvas cards—about the incorporation of the Serious
Fraud Office into the NCA. The constituent who was lobbying me
was rather surprised that I knew anything about the subject at
all, but he lobbied me at length...
To read the whole debate, CLICK
HERE
