Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act 2010
Acts of the Oireachtas
Source: Acts of the Oireachtas

num: 1
paragraphs: — In this Act, “Act of 2001” means the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act 2001 .
num: 2
paragraphs: — Section 1 (inserted by section 2 of the Act of 2001) of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906 is amended—
(a) in subsection (2), by substituting “, consideration or advantage” for “or consideration”, and
(b) in subsection (5)—
(i) in the definition of “agent”—
(I) in paragraph (c), in subparagraph (ix), by deleting “and”, and
(II) in paragraph (c), by substituting the following subparagraphs for subparagraph (x):
“(x) any other person employed by or acting on behalf of the public administration of any state (other than the State), including a person under the direct or indirect control of the government of any such state, and
(xi) a member of, or any other person employed by or acting for or on behalf of, any international organisation established by an international agreement between states to which the State is not a party;”,
and
(ii) by inserting the following definitions:
“ ‘corruptly’ includes acting with an improper purpose personally or by influencing another person, whether by means of making a false or misleading statement, by means of withholding, concealing, altering or destroying a document or other information, or by any other means;
‘state’, in relation to a state other than the State, includes—
(a) a territory, whether in the state or outside it, for whose external relations the state or its government is wholly or partly responsible,
(b) a subdivision of the government of the state, and
(c) a national, regional or local entity of the state.”.
num: 3
paragraphs: — Section 7 of the Act of 2001 is amended—
(a) in subsection (1)—
(i) by inserting “(whether or not the person is an agent)” after “where a person”, and
(ii) by substituting “the relevant section” for “section 1 (inserted by section 2 of this Act) of the Act of 1906”,
and
(b) by substituting the following subsections for subsection (2):
“(2) Subsection (1) shall apply only where the person concerned is—
(a) an Irish citizen,
(b) an individual who is ordinarily resident in the State,
(c) a company registered under the Companies Acts,
(d) any other body corporate established under a law of the State, or
(e) a relevant agent in any case where the relevant agent does not fall within any of paragraphs (a) to (d).
(3) In this section—
‘agent’ has the meaning assigned to it by subsection (5) of the relevant section;
‘ordinarily resident in the State’, in relation to an individual, means the individual has had his or her principal residence in the State for the period of 12 months immediately preceding the alleged commission of the offence concerned under subsection (1);
‘relevant agent’ means a person who falls within paragraph (b) of the definition of ‘agent’ in subsection (5) of the relevant section;
‘relevant section’ means section 1 (inserted by section 2 of this Act and as amended by section 2 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act 2010) of the Act of 1906.”.
num: 4
paragraphs: — The Act of 2001 is amended by inserting the following section after section 8:
“Protection for persons (including employees) reporting offences under Prevention of Corruption Acts 1889 to 2010.
8A.— (1) A person who, apart from this section, would be so liable shall not be liable in damages in respect of the communication, whether in writing or otherwise, by the person to an appropriate person of his or her opinion that an offence under the Prevention of Corruption Acts 1889 to 2010 may have been or may be being committed unless—
(a) in communicating his or her opinion to that appropriate person did so—
(i) knowing it to be false, misleading, frivolous or vexatious, or
(ii) reckless as to whether it was false, misleading, frivolous or vexatious,
or
(b) in connection with the communication of his or her opinion to that appropriate person, furnished information that he or she knew to be false or misleading.
(2) The reference in subsection (1) to liability in damages shall be construed as including a reference to liability to any other form of relief.
(3) A person who makes a communication under subsection (1), which the person knows to be false, that a person may have committed or may be committing an offence under the Prevention of Corruption Acts 1889 to 2010 shall be guilty of an offence.
(4) Subsection (1) is in addition to, and not in substitution for, any privilege or defence available in legal proceedings, by virtue of any enactment or rule of law in force immediately before the commencement of this section, in respect of the communication by a person to another (whether that other person is an appropriate person or not) of an opinion of the kind referred to in subsection (1).
(5) An employer shall not penalise or threaten penalisation against an employee, or cause or permit any other person to penalise or threaten penalisation against an employee, for—
(a) having formed an opinion of the kind referred to in subsection (1) and communicated it, whether in writing or otherwise, to an appropriate person unless the employee—
(i) in communicating his or her opinion to that appropriate person did so—
(I) knowing it to be false, misleading, frivolous or vexatious, or
(II) reckless as to whether it was false, misleading, frivolous or vexatious,
or
(ii) in connection with the communication of his or her opinion to that appropriate person, furnished information that he or she knew to be false or misleading,
or
(b) giving notice of his or her intention to do the thing referred to in paragraph (a).
num: 5
paragraphs: — The Act of 2001 is amended by substituting the following section for section 9:
“Offences — general.
num: 9
paragraphs: — (1) Where an offence under the relevant Acts has been committed by a body corporate and is proved to have been committed with the consent, connivance or approval of, or to have been attributable to any neglect on the part of, a person who was either—
(a) a director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate, or
(b) a person purporting to act in any such capacity,
that person shall also be guilty of an offence and liable to be proceeded against and punished as if the person were guilty of the first-mentioned offence.
(2) Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, subsection (1) shall apply in respect of the acts or defaults of a member in connection with the member’s functions of management as if the member were a director or manager of the body corporate.
(3) Subsections (1) and (2) shall, with any necessary modifications, apply in respect of offences under the relevant Acts committed by an unincorporated body.
(4) Notwithstanding section 10 (4) of the Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act 1851 , summary proceedings for an offence under the relevant Acts to which that provision applies may be instituted—
(a) within 12 months from the date on which the offence was committed, or
(b) within 6 months from the date on which evidence sufficient, in the opinion of the person instituting the proceedings, to justify proceedings comes to that person’s knowledge,
whichever is the later, provided that no such proceedings shall be commenced later than 2 years from the date on which the offence concerned was committed.
(5) For the purposes of subsection (4), a certificate signed by or on behalf of the person initiating the proceedings as to the date on which evidence referred to in that subsection came to his or her knowledge shall be evidence of that date and, in any legal proceedings, a document purporting to be a certificate under this subsection and to be so signed shall be admitted as evidence without proof of the signature of the person purporting to sign the certificate, unless the contrary is shown.
(6) In this section, ‘relevant Acts’ means the Prevention of Corruption Acts 1889 to 2010.”.
num: 6
paragraphs: — The Act of 2001 is amended by inserting the following Schedules after section 10:
num: 7
paragraphs: — (1) This Act may be cited as the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act 2010.
(2) The Prevention of Corruption Acts 1889 to 2005 and this Act may be cited together as the Prevention of Corruption Acts 1889 to 2010.