Clause 42 - Offence of disclosure
Crime (International Co-operation) Bill [Lords]
10:30 am
Mr Nick Hawkins (Surrey Heath, Conservative)
The amendment deals with an issue that I raised earlier. For the avoidance of doubt, we seek to bring into the Bill the matter of the guilty mind—the mens rea. It should be made clear that an offence committed by a financial institution would have to be dealt with on the basis that there had been a
deliberate or reckless act. There is no such restriction in the clause. In respect of the clause that we debated previously, the Minister was at least able to refer to words that made that reasonably clear, and we seek only to introduce an avoidance of doubt provision. We want to include ''deliberately or recklessly''.
Amendment No. 150 would deal with a slight variant of a similar point. There must be consequences, such as a financial institution facing criminal prosecution, for there to be an offence. Surely the prosecution would have to establish that there had been difficulty caused in proceedings, either in the UK or elsewhere. Returning to first principles of the law, if no harm has been done and there are no adverse consequences, why should a financial institution face prosecution?
Stephen Hesford rose—