Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Organisational reforms in the ODCE were commenced in 2012 by the current Director of Corporate Enforcement upon his appointment in order to enhance the capability of the office to investigate complex breaches of company law and to ensure a more efficient and effective use of its resources.  These reforms include reorganising the structure of the office and recruiting additional expertise, including seven forensic accountants, a digital forensic specialist, two enforcement portfolio managers and an enforcement lawyer. In addition, a forensic accountant was identified from a recruitment campaign run by the Public Appointments Service, PAS, and is expected to be appointed shortly.  Similarly an enforcement lawyer has been identified and an assignment date is expected shortly.

As senior level vacancies have arisen, there has been a reconfiguration of the skill sets, competencies, roles and responsibilities associated with those posts to better reflect the organisation's current needs. The investigative procedures used by the office have been fundamentally amended so that members of An Garda Síochána take the lead in all criminal investigations. A greater culture of risk management has also been fostered within the office. A key action in the Government's package of measures to strengthen Ireland's response to white collar crime centres on the establishment of the ODCE as an agency.

Work on the development of the legislative framework for the establishment of the ODCE as an agency is well advanced.  It is expected that the general scheme of a Bill to give effect to this decision will be forthcoming in the third quarter of 2018, with publication of the final Bill expected by the end of the fourth quarter. Changing the structure of the ODCE from an office to a statutory agency will provide greater autonomy to the agency and ensure it is better equipped to investigate increasingly complex breaches of company law. Sourcing of expertise and specialist staff, such as forensic accountants, will be enhanced under the agency model. The ODCE has played, and continues to play, a vital role in facilitating compliance and enforcement of company law.

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The ODCE has been successful in several recent high-profile white-collar crime prosecutions. In 2014, two individuals were convicted for the giving of unlawful financial assistance by Anglo Irish Bank for the purchase of its own shares and in 2016 and one individual was convicted of fraudulent trading on foot of a plea of guilty. Also in 2016, another individual was convicted for failing to maintain a licensed bank's register of loans to directors on foot of a plea of guilty. In 2017, a person was arrested and charged with fraudulent trading based on an invoice discounting fraud, entered a plea of guilty and was sentenced, in March 2018, to 18 months in prison, with the final six months suspended. The person was also disqualified from being a director for a period of five years. In June 2018, a person entered a plea of guilty on ten counts of offering unlawful financial assistance, relating to loans provided to property developers by Anglo Irish Bank.

Over the past ten years the ODCE has referred files in respect of a number of investigations to the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP, on foot of which the latter has directed a total of 214 charges on indictment.

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