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Bribery Bill [HL]

I can only repeat what I hope I have already made clear—that there is a specific defence and the amendment would add an additional requirement to that defence. One starts with the situation that the offences speak for themselves. They set out what the criminal law requires. Then there is provided to someone charged with a criminal offence a means of avoiding what would be the normal liability of their conduct for reasons that I accept are perfectly appropriate and proper. The unamended clause states clearly that there is an obligation on the person who is charged to show that the conduct was necessary, and so on. The amendment proposes an additional requirement saying: ""There shall be no defence"—" in other words making the person concerned subject to the ordinary law— ""for the purposes of section 12(1) unless the Secretary of State has given an authorisation for the purposes of this section"." There is a double requirement: one in the clause as originally drafted and another in the amendment. I shall go back to my point about the general purpose of the Bill, in addition to its specific purpose. Although we feel that action should be taken to protect the position of those who commit what would otherwise be the bribery offence, it is one that is curtailed as far as it is appropriate to curtail it. It is curtailed in two respects. The first is because of what appears in the Bill in its original form; the second is because of what appears in the amendment. If the amendment stood by itself it would have no bite. The fact that it refers to a class of circumstances where the defence can operate does not mean that it is creating a power in the Minister to change the law. All it means is that the Minister would not impose a specific limitation on the circumstances when the defence could be relied on, but gives it in a class of situations. Clause 12(1) would operate more readily than if it applied only in a specific situation. This matter was raised for the first time today and I do not propose to say any more. Either the argument is convincing or it is not. However, I will say that it would be indeed unfortunate if a special defence was given to the security services as part of the Crown to commit what would otherwise be the offence of bribery without that power being under any form of restraint or supervision. One of the most important things about supervision is that it would be a deterrent to the improper use of the power. It would also provide a means whereby it could be clearly seen and, indeed, if necessary, thereafter in the public domain made clear, that the circumstance in which the bribery was to take place was not only necessary for the purposes set out in the clause, but one that a Minister of the Crown had authorised. That should be carefully considered by the Crown under the amendment. If the Minister does not feel able to accept the amendment today, I hope that he will at least consider whether there is not some other method whereby proper supervision could occur of this important departure from our normal law of bribery.