Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Justice – in the House of Commons at 11:30 am on 13 November 2012.
Damian Green
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice and Home Office) , The Minister for Policing and Criminal Justice
11:30,
13 November 2012
My hon. Friend makes an important point, but of course the SFO acts independently of Government. As I said, the Government take all forms of economic crime seriously and what we can do is provide the SFO and other prosecutorial bodies with the tools they need to carry out their roles. That is why, for example, we introduced clauses to provide for the deferred prosecution agreements, which we think will be a valuable tool. They have tough requirements, such as a financial penalty, reparation for victims and repayments of profits. That kind of practical tool in the hands of the prosecutors will make us much more effective at fighting economic crime.