Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 14:

In page 22, between lines 2 and 3, to insert the following: “Amendment of section 53 of Criminal Justice (Mutual Assistance) Act 2008

42.Section 53 of the Criminal Justice (Mutual Assistance) Act 2008 is amended—

(a) in subsection (7)(a) by the substitution of “subsections (8) and (9)” for “subsection (8)”, and

(b) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (8):

“(9) Where property recovered by the execution of a confiscation co-operation order transmitted by or on behalf of a court in a designated state, other than a member state or the United Kingdom, is a sum of money or the proceeds of a sale under subsection (7) (b), the Court, on application by the Central Authority and in accordance with the relevant international instrument, may—

(a) order the money or the proceeds of sale to be transferred to the designated state, or

(b) order part of the money or the proceeds of sale to be transferred to the designated state and the remaining balance shall be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in such manner as the Minister for Finance may direct.”.”.

Amendment No. 14 amends the Criminal Justice (Mutual Assistance) Act 2008. As it stands, section 53(8) provides that, for EU member states, sums received on foot of a confiscation are paid into the Exchequer where the amount is less than €10,000. Amounts greater than €10,000 are equally divided with the issuing state. This arrangement arises from the relevant framework decision and is confined to EU member states' requests. As a signatory to the UN Convention Against Corruption, Ireland is subject to a UN process with regard to its implementation. One of the recommendations that emerged from the review process called for it be ensured that Ireland's mutual legal assistance legislation clearly provides for the return of confiscated money to any state party in accordance with Article 57(2) of the convention. Similar concerns may arise in respect of other mutual legal assistance instruments. The proposed approach allows the court to order the return of sums of money to the designated states concerned in accordance with the relevant instrument.

Amendment No. 15 relates to the dual criminality requirement associated with corruption offences. This requirement applies to corruption occurring outside the State where extraterritorial jurisdiction is applied in respect of, for example, Irish citizens and residents committing acts of corruption abroad. At present, to be prosecuted, conduct must constitute an offence both in Ireland and in the state concerned. This issue has been raised by international organisations, notably the European Commission which has noted that it may limit the scope for prosecuting foreign bribery. This amendment will address this issue. We are simply aligning ourselves to respond to issues the Commission has raised with us previously.