Minister snubbed in move to rein in oligarchs
THE Dáil Justice Committee has rejected an attempt by Minister Helen McEntee to delay a new Bill that would give the Government CAB-style powers to seize the assets of Russian oligarchs here.
The Irish Mail on Sunday revealed last week how former Labour leader Brendan Howlin sought to introduce new legislation, the Magnitsky Bill, in the Dáil.
Initial plans to fast-track the legislation were scuppered by parliamentary red tape. And this week the Justice Minister sought to hold up the Bill after learning that the committee planned to waive its right of legislative scrutiny so as to speed up the Bill’s passage through the Dáil.
In a letter to Justice Committee chairman James Lawless – seen by the MoS – Ms McEntee said ‘significant further work’ is required to ensure the legislation is ‘effective’.
However, in a rare snub to a minister’s direction, Mr Lawless and the committee met that evening in emergency session and decided unanimously to fast-track the process.
A committee source told the MoS: ‘At 5pm we got the letter from the minister and at 7pm we met and took our own route. It was unanimous.
‘We were not going to be the ones that will hold this up. The Bill is in the hands of the Dáil now.
‘It may not be perfect, but we are in a war and – to borrow a phrase from the coronavirus – perfection can be the enemy of good.’
The so-called Magnitsky Bill is named after Ukraine-born Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in a Moscow prison in 2009 after investigating a $230m
‘We were not going to be the ones to hold this up’
fraud involving tax officials.
Although the Government has been publicly supportive of the Magnitsky Bill, a Justice Committee source said members ‘were
getting messages from both sides of the mouth – we respect your independence, but don’t do it’.
In her letter to the committee, Ms McEntee said she understood ‘the Joint Oireachtas Committee is to consider waiving post-second stage scrutiny on the Proceeds of Crime (Gross Human Rights Abuses) Bill 2020 this evening’.
The minister said the Bill was ‘well-intentioned’ and stressed that the Government supports the legislation in principle.
However, she said she had consulted the Criminal Assets Bureau and was told it ‘cannot see any current practical benefit from the proposed changes in this legislation. Neither does CAB believe that minor amendments would deliver the desired outcome’.
Ms McEntee added: ‘If the committee wishes to waive scrutiny and to support the rapid passage of this Bill into law, it will be doing so on the basis that enactment will send a strong signal, but that those new legal provisions will have no practical benefit for CAB.
‘Based on the advice I have, significant further work would be required to ensure that the legislation is workable and effective.’
She also suggested that committee members meet with her officials and CAB officers ‘before making any decision in relation to waiving scrutiny’.
‘In so doing,’ she said, ‘the committee may be able to make recommendations to strengthen the Bill in a way in which CAB believe could be successfully used in practice.’
Despite seeking to delay the Bill, Ms McEntee said the Government is ‘absolutely committed that Ireland must not be a safe haven for illicit gains’.
‘We have strongly backed the EU’s sanctions regime. A coherent international approach to sanctions should be our primary tool in dealing with these assets.’ However, despite the minister’s reservations about the legislation, committee chair Mr Lawless told the MoS ‘technical considerations’ should not be allowed to get in its way.
‘On balance the view of the committee was that everything necessary to facilitate a speedy passage of the Magnitsky Bill should be done,’ he said.
‘Given the plight being experienced by the people of the Ukraine, we should not let technical considerations impede what was a very symbolic act. This Bill will send a very important message to the people of the Ukraine that, in Ireland we stand with you, not the oligarchs,’ he said.