Clause 38 - Offences by bodies corporate
Vehicles (Crime) Bill
10:30 am
Mr Michael Fabricant (Lichfield, Conservative)
My hon. Friend the Member for Buckingham knows that I support him on the matter. Members of the Committee will know that I share a concern about shell companies, which I have mentioned on previous occasions. Those are companies of which the directors are registered with Companies House, but which are managed by people who are not registered as its directors. As I have said in the past, I am aware that in the Companies Acts, a director is stated to be somebody registered as such, or who acts as a director. However, there is a danger that a company acting unlawfully and the individuals running it may not be prosecuted if we retain the term ``managed'' without adding ``or controlled''.
We have heard recent reports in the newspapers and on the broadcast media that Railtrack personnel may be prosecuted as a result of the recent derailment. I do not expect the Minister to comment on that specific instance, but we have also heard reports that, ever since the incident involving the Herald of Free Enterprise, there has not been a single successful prosecution of directors or people working for a body corporate when such a body has committed an offence. Although I welcome the clause, I wonder whether the Minister believes that there will ever be a successful prosecution of that kind, given the performance of the prosecuting authorities under both Labour and Conservative Governments.
Does the Minister agree that adding the words ``or controlled'' would provide assistance to those organisations that feel that such a prosecution should be made under the clause? Those words would tear away the curtains that may conceal those who secretly control a company, a partnership limited by guarantee or the other forms of partnership described earlier in the Bill.