Clause 28
Serious Crime Bill [Lords]
12:45 pm
James Brokenshire (Shadow Minister (Police Reform), Home Affairs; Hornchurch, Conservative)
I rise briefly to seek clarification on petitioning and the powers of winding up. From my reading of clause 28(1), those are intended to apply when an offence has been committed under section 26 and the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Director of Revenue and Customs Prosecutions or the director of the Serious Fraud Office determines that it would be in the public interest to seek a petition to wind up the company; in other words, an offence has been committed and that is deemed the appropriate way to dispose of the breach.
My question about the amendments and how they apply relates to the factors that the directors would take into account in determining what is in the public interest. Are they intended to be as wide as possible? Can the Minister give examples of what would be appropriate in the circumstances? We are talking about corporate entities and there would have been some sort of breach. In some ways, the issue goes back to my intervention during the debate about the liability of directors during our discussion of clause 26. I want to gain an understanding of how the Bill is intended to operate and how discretion is intended to be applied in allowing the winding up of companies for such breaches.