Clause 38 - Offences by bodies corporate
Vehicles (Crime) Bill
10:30 am
Mr Michael Fabricant (Lichfield, Conservative)
My hon. Friend raises a valid concern. Not only the secretary but the manager or managers above him or her, as well as the directors, might be prosecuted in such a case. We may assume that the prosecuting authorities would apply some common sense, but should an Act of Parliament be dependent on common sense? Are the Government missing something here, which my hon. Friend has highlighted?
The term ``Offences by bodies corporate'' does not adequately specify those offences that might result in a fine on the body or the imprisonment of those individuals. There appears to be nothing in the clause—although the Minister may reassure me—that puts any restriction on the sort of offence that might be applied to the individuals involved. The final words of subsection (1) state that the individual will be ``punished accordingly'', but no reference is made to the degree or level of that punishment.
I find it extraordinary, in the context of the English legal system, that we might consider sending someone to prison in the circumstances described by my hon. Friend the Member for Buckingham. Is there anything in the Bill to prevent a hanging judge from, if not hanging the secretary or her boss, sending them to prison for any length of time? The Minister needs to answer such questions. I have expressed at some length our concerns about the imprecision of clause 38, although we welcome its general principle.