Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Before the Taoiseach became leader of the country, he spoke a lot about addressing white collar crime but we have not seen much progress on that yet.

We recently unearthed another example of NAMA breaking its own rules when, almost like magic, it sold loans belonging to Avestus, with €352 million owed on them, back to their original owners through a shell company in Luxembourg that was conveniently structured to facilitate the deal. How did the Government deal with it? It rewarded it. Avestus has been given €25 million to build and make more money.

The Comptroller and Auditor General announced last week that he had sought further information on this loan sale and he may begin an investigation. Why is his office the only one that seems to have any appetite to seriously hold NAMA to account. Sadly, I do not think the Government has done so and, sadly, the Garda has failed to do so.

I want to focus on a different area of white-collar crime today. The Taoiseach might remember back to May 2017 and the case of the former CEO of Anglo Irish Bank, Mr. Seán FitzPatrick, one of the most expensive cases in the history of the State. It collapsed due to the inadequate investigation by the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, ODCE. The ODCE was then asked to do a report explaining the collapse of the trial. The report has been with the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Humphreys, since June 2017, yet has not been published due to legal advice. I have seen the report. It is a whitewash and does not address the issues regarding the mistakes made by the ODCE during the case.

I have here the transcript of Judge John Aylmer's statement from 23 May 2017, when he had no choice but to acquit the former Anglo CEO due to the ODCE's botching of the investigation. The judge was scathing of the ODCE and, when one compares the judge's transcript with the internal investigation by the ODCE, it is clear that the ODCE is covering up its own mistakes. The white-collar crime agency, responsible for uncovering crime, is instead covering up itself. It would be hard to make it up.

On 23 October, the Law Reform Commission published an 800-plus page report into white-collar crime with more than 200 recommendations. One of its main recommendations was the establishment of a corporate crime agency and it even drafted the Bill. Will the Taoiseach bring forward this legislation immediately and start an immediate wind-down of the ODCE? Has the Taoiseach read the ODCE report? Is he concerned that the ODCE has submitted a report to Government that is, in essence, a cover-up of its own mistakes? How can we have confidence in this organisation?

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