Astonishing accountability

Irish citizens must be looking on in astonishment at events in the UK.

They must be astonished to witness a police force taking immediate action on receiving allegations of political corruption.

They must be astonished that there are actually police officers with the courage and confidence to investigate powerful politicians.

They must be astonished to see one of the most powerful men in the UK, Lord Levy, arrested by the police.

They must be astonished that it was a politician that actually made the initial complaint to the police.

They must be astonished that action is actually taken without first having a fifteen year tribunal that costs millions and achieves nothing.

They must be astonished at the possibility of a serving Prime Minister being questioned by the police

They must be astonished that politicians of the party in power are severely critical of their own party and leader.

Some astonished Irish citizens might even begin to suspect that what is happening in the UK is not unusual in an accountable democracy.

Italy acts, Ireland deludes

I see the Italians are to put former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on trial for alleged fraud. He faces charges of embezzlement, false accounting, tax fraud and money laundering. These alleged crimes are not much different from the activities of former Irish Prime Minister, Charles Haughey.

While Berlusconi was in power, he introduced a law that gave him protection from such charges but only months after losing that power, the Italian system has moved to make him accountable.

Haughey, on the other hand was never brought to justice for his crimes and indeed was permitted to live out his final years in luxury, enjoying the fruits of his corruption. This criminal was even given a state funeral during which the present Prime Minister, Bertie Ahern described him (Haughey) as

“a patriot to his fingertips”.

The difference between the two countries is simple. Italy, seen by many as the most corrupt state in Europe, has faced up to the fact that corruption is a massively corrosive disease that eats away at the very fabric of a decent society. In recent years, the Italian authorities have taken strong and courageous action to combat the disease, especially against the mafia.

Unfortunately, the Irish system is still labouring under the delusion that Ireland is a first world, democratically accountable country when in fact it is nothing more than a ‘well to do’ Banana Republic where corrupt former prime ministers are honoured with State funerals.

A tale of two countries – one accountable, one corrupt

On the 3rd of July last RTE News reported (10th item)on a major police investigation in the United Kingdom into alleged fraud in the horse racing industry. The investigation was conducted over two years and involved 130 police officers. Dozens of people have been charged with serious crimes including defrauding customers and money laundering.

Those charged are out on bail awaiting their day in court where they will successfully prove themselves innocent of the charges or be found guilty and receive the punishment that society rightly demands. Key terms to keep in mind here are; Police, charges, crimes, fraud, court, guilt and punishment.

On the 5th of July last RTE News reported (1st item) on a similar case of dodgy dealing in the Irish Greyhound industry. The case involves serious allegations of fraud and cover up in the industry. The police are not involved. The courts are not involved. Nobody has been charged, nobody will be charged.

Keeping in mind the key terms quoted in the UK case above the following is a brief outline of how these serious allegations of fraud were dealt with in the corrupt Republic of Ireland.

A retired civil servant was appointed to carry out a secret investigation. (Question: What other democracy appoints retired civil servants to investigate allegations of serious fraud?) His terms of reference were extremely narrow so his chances of finding anything substantial were very slight.

After a long delay the report was finally published, just before the politicians are due to head off on their very long summer holidays.

The report was examined by politicians sitting on the Public Accounts Committee. There was a lot of hand wringing, a lot of talking but no action. The committee is only allowed to talk; they have no power of action.

The politician ‘responsible’ for the greyhound industry, Sports Minister, John O’Donoghue has promised legislation to tighten up procedures – ‘sometime in the near future’. (This translates as – never)

The Comptroller and Auditor General has said he will carry out further investigations into the greyhound industry. The Auditor General is as powerless as retired civil servants, as powerless as political committees, as powerless as ministers who don’t want to rock the boat, as powerless as governments operating within a corrupt system so his investigation will simply result in yet another report.

When that report is published the whole sequence starts over again. Talking, wringing of hands, empty promises but no action, no police, no charges, no courts, no trials, no punishment, no accountability.

Just the continuing massive damage to a country and its people by the putrid and rampant disease of corruption.

Waiting for action

The Standards in Public Office Commission has just published its annual report for 2005. Cases involving three politicians are dealt with. The first two relate to former Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Mr. Ivor Callely and Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Mr. Tom Parlon. These cases involve the usual petty and pathetic shenanigans of Irish politicians and can be dismissed as such.

The third case serves as an excellent example of how things are done in a corrupt state in comparison to the reaction of enforcement authorities in accountable democracies.

The following is a very brief outline of the case – In 2002 the now independent, Fianna Fail TD, Michael Collins is alleged to have made a false statement to the Commission regarding his tax situation. He provided a tax clearance certificate and a statutory declaration to the Commission stating that he was compliant with the various tax acts. In 2003, it was revealed that he was the holder of a bogus non resident account. The law is crystal clear on this matter –

Where a conviction relates to knowingly furnishing statutory documentation to the Standards Commission which is false or misleading in any material respect, a member of the Houses of the Oireachtas or a representative in the European Parliament will be liable, on conviction on indictment, to a fine of up to €25,394.76 and / or up to three years in prison.

In a real democracy, the likes of Collins would have been dealt with years ago. In a corrupt state things are handled differently. Firstly, the Commission suddenly realised that it lacked power to take effective action so it brought the matter to the attention of other organs of the state where it was eventually referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Gardai.

That was in 2004, and nothing has happened since. So, the alleged crime took place in 2002 and here we are four years on and the whole case is encased in the secrecy and never ending deliberations of the Gardai and DPP.