Bill Aims To Tackle Corrupt Practices - Irish Times 2 July 2012

The following article appeared in The Irish Times on 2 July 2012.

Legal Update: The Minister for Justice and Equality recently published the draft scheme of the Criminal Justice (Corruption) Bill 2012, 123 years after the enactment of the statute that is the basis of our current law.

In so doing, Alan Shatter included measures recommended by the Mahon tribunal report, published three months ago.

Bribery and corrupt practices by employees and agents of a company are to be automatically imputed to the company. Companies must "take all reasonable steps" and "exercise all due diligence" to avoid criminal liability.

Extravagant lifestyles of public officials will now carry a presumption that the public official is living off bribes. Intimidation of a public official is to be an offence, if motivated by a wish to corrupt the public official's decisions.