My Lords, I will briefly address both amendments.
On the amendment from the noble and learned Lord, Lord Garnier, supported by the noble Lord, Lord Sandhurst, I completely agree with the need for a review and the points made by the noble and learned Lord. His speech dealt largely with corruption, but the amendment deals with bribery and money laundering, which gives rise to significant hardship in countries where it can bite. The weakness of our system is that there is no real provision for proper compensation or properly assessing compensation—even in domestic cases, let alone international ones—where there is a conviction but the degree of loss has not been properly investigated. Noble Lords will no doubt have a great deal of sympathy with the noble and learned Lord, who was allowed to address the judge out of consideration and kindness but had his submissions rejected because there was no legal standing.
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The first step the Government ought to consider is acknowledging that these cases for compensation in which it is undesirable to have a full civil case will generally arise where there is a conviction, the facts and culpability are not in dispute and there is no defence, but it may be difficult to assess what compensation is appropriate and what loss there has been. First, victims ought to have the status to be heard on the question of their loss and to apply for a proper order
for compensation after conviction. The noble and learned Lord mentioned deferred prosecution agreements, which give wide flexibility as to the terms that can be imposed or agreed. It may be no coincidence that, if my memory is right, he was the pioneer of deferred prosecution agreements when Solicitor-General—he points to the noble and learned Lord, Lord Thomas; there may have been others.
Where there is an ordinary conviction by a criminal court, there is no status for the victim to be heard and no opportunity for the court to determine what the loss was. A detailed investigation may not be called for; in a lot of these cases, the total that would be ordered may well not be paid in any event. However, I see no reason why the court should not have the power to make a summary assessment of loss on a reasonable view of the evidence before it, in order to make an order for compensation. If a claimant then chooses to take civil proceedings and give credit for any compensation paid, so be it. That may not always be the case, and it would be a valuable power for the court to have. The court also ought to have the power to consider other forms of restitution as well as a direct compensation order. This review is obviously necessary; we are in only the first stages of considering it and it will not come into statute as a result of this Bill, but the Committee should nevertheless be grateful to the noble and learned Lord for raising it.
As one would expect, since I am speaking from these Benches, I agree with every word of what my noble friend Lady Brinton said on her amendment. The principal point is that these compensation orders frequently leave victims feeling that they have an order in their favour but are still suffering the hardship of not having it paid or having it paid slowly, and being reminded of the offence far too often. Victims ought to have a say as well. The provision in proposed new paragraph (c) gives the right to approve or refuse the payment of a compensation order to the victim. It is also right that consideration should be given in every case to whether compensation which arises from crime ought to be awarded from public funds and the courts ought to have the power to make that order if necessary.
Finally, proposed new paragraph (e),
“access to legal advice at no cost to themselves throughout the legal process”,
is very similar to the free advocacy from an independent legally qualified person that we discussed in the first group. It is plainly appropriate at this stage of the proceedings.