12 Nov 2012

Submissions sought on white collar crime penalties

1:53 pm on 12 November 2012

The Law Commission wants public feedback on the use of financial penalties instead of criminal convictions for people committing white collar crime.

It is concerned that bodies such as the Commerce Commission are increasingly resorting to financial penalties instead of laying criminal charges to penalise unlawful activities including price-fixing and insider trading.

Law Commissioner Geoff Mclay says they want to create a system that fairly takes account of people's actions.

But Victoria University criminologist John Pratt says the review should be much wider in scope.

He says the laws on white collar crime makes it tempting and easy to commit offences as the penalties are low, detection is difficult and there are insufficient resources to monitor it.

Mr Mclay says he believes the scope of the review is adequate.

Submissions close in February next year.