Clause 73 - Financial reporting orders:
Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill
3:00 pm
Mr Dominic Grieve (Shadow Attorney General, Home Affairs; Beaconsfield, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 206, in clause 73, page 42, line 25, at end insert
'but he must inform the person in respect of whom an order was made that he has disclosed a report and to whom he has disclosed it.'.
The clause deals with the verification and disclosure of financial reporting orders. I accept that for the system to work, it must be possible for those examining the orders to check that what they are being told by the defendant—the convicted criminal who is under an obligation to provide the information—is accurate. However, there does not seem to be any suggestion in the clause that the person about whom questions are being asked will know who is being approached. The Minister might argue that there are compelling reasons why that should be the case, but there can be little doubt that that is a considerable intrusion on completely legitimate private relationships.
Let us take the example of an individual who has been convicted but is now going straight. At regular intervals, he presents his bank statements or statements from his employer, and the officer or investigator speaks to his bank manager or employer about it. That has the capacity to cause considerable damage to those private relationships. I have a horrible feeling that in some cases it could lead to a person losing his job if it had not been known that an FRO was in force. What is the justification for not informing somebody who is providing information in respect of an FRO that contact has been made with certain people to check it? In the ordinary course of events, I would expect a person to be entitled to that information. The Minister might persuade me that in the particular circumstances of an FRO, it would not be right to do it, because if an irregularity were shown up, the investigator might want to investigate other matters.
However, there might be a halfway house. There could be a discretion not to inform if it were considered that there had been some impropriety, but to inform if everything were shown by the checks to be all right. I have not sought to tackle that position in the amendment, but I have an anxiety about a situation in which information is obtained from the defendant and is checked behind his back with individuals with whom he has private or commercial relations, while he is kept completely in the dark that those contacts have taken place. That could cause considerable damage in the case of somebody who is trying to lead a law-abiding life. It is a difficult matter to reconcile, but I should be grateful to hear from the Minister how the Government view the issue.