Dublin South West Sinn F\u00e9in TD, Se\u00e1n Crowe, has described the collapse of the Anglo trial, due supposedly to the mishandling of evidence and a half-hearted flawed investigation undertaken by the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE), as an unacceptable.<\/p>\n
Deputy Se\u00e1n Crowe said:<\/p>\n
\u201cIn relation to the Anglo Irish Bank trial, and the specific case taken against Se\u00e1n Fitzpatrick, it is clear that the ODCE\u00a0failed miserably in its own role to encourage adherence to company law and bring\u00a0to account those who disregard that law.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sheer incompetence and flawed approach shown in this\u00a0investigation is shocking and totally unacceptable. Common sense would inform that it is not appropriate for anyone else to take\u00a0statements from witnesses apart from the Garda\u00ed, or to shred key documents in the midst of a criminal trial, but that\u2019s what happened.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is clear that the ODCE was unprepared and it lacked the wherewithal and motivation for this type of investigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe overall financial cost of this fiasco will be significant. Leaving aside the price of a nine year investigation, it has been estimated to have cost \u20ac3 million for this\u00a0127 day failed trial\u00a0alone.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs per usual the taxpayer is left carrying the burden and left to pick up the cost and pay for excesses of others, as they were with the bond holders.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe loss to the citizens of Ireland is not just financial. This situation also creates an unmeasurable loss in public confidence in everyday politics, courts, and the legal system. The state can be bankrupted and\u00a0banks can be\u00a0collapsed through excesses of a few,\u00a0yet once again no one\u00a0is held to account. However if you don\u2019t pay your TV license, and live at the wrong address, you can expect the full rigour of the law.<\/p>\n
\u201cIncreasingly public opinion is firmly of the belief that justice is delivered on the basis of who you know, is dependent on\u00a0whom you are, who you socialise with, what your financially worth is, and where you live.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe number of staff in the ODCE has declined from 53 in 2010 to 40 in 2016. Apart from the unacceptable 26% reduction in staffing levels, it is bizarre to think that just 40 people were assigned to investigate and prosecute all the corruption and white collar crime in Ireland\u00a0last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese figures also highlight how little priority or importance this Government gives the serious issue of white collar crime.<\/p>\n
\u201cQuestioned about the resourcing of the ODCE last year, Minister Mitchell O\u2019Connor said she was satisfied that the office was\u00a0sufficiently funded. Clearly, it was neither funded nor resourced correctly\u00a0and the Minister must take responsibility for the failure of this trial as a result.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
ENDS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dublin South West Sinn F\u00e9in TD, Se\u00e1n Crowe, has described the collapse of the Anglo trial, due supposedly to the mishandling of evidence and a half-hearted flawed investigation undertaken by the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE), as an unacceptable. Deputy Se\u00e1n Crowe said: \u201cIn relation to the Anglo Irish Bank trial, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[184,323,324],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-banks","category-courts","category-justice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3135"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3136,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3135\/revisions\/3136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}