Ireland

WHITE-COLLAR and corporate crime became enough of a public issue in Ireland in the late 1990s that the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offenses) Act of 2001 was enacted by the Irish government. The act covers: Money laundering the proceeds of crime; corruption against the European Union; corporate crime liability; computer offenses. It also includes the following areas where the law has been entirely replaced: larceny, forgery, counterfeiting, fraud.

As part of the act, a new era of corporate governance was declared with the establishment of the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE), headed by Paul Appleby. He reported that the number of auditors' reports of suspected company law offenses more than trebled in 2003 to 1,500, from 399 the previous year. At the ...