'They're criminals': One business group wants to jail people who make false court claims
ISME says stricter perjury laws could combat the problem of fraudulent insurance cases.
LYING UNDER OATH should be made a criminal offence that could see culprits sent to jail for as many as five years, according to one of Ireland’s main business groups.
Small business lobby ISME today launched a policy document calling on the government to introduce a Perjury Act to punish those who willfully lie under oath.
At the moment, there is only a common law offence in Ireland to broadly cover false statements made to court. It is seldom prosecuted – and in the cases where it is pursued, convictions are rare.
ISME wants a new law introduced that would clearly define the act of perjury and set out punishments.
The group argues that this could help cut down on fraudulent personal injuries claims and help lower the cost of insurance, prices for which have shot up in recent years.
Sentences
Speaking to Fora, ISME CEO Neil McDonnell said: “Insurance fraud is white-collar crime – it is one of the largest examples of white-collar crime.
“Five years (in prison) should be the maximum should be the max for common or garden claims, and 10 years for aggravated cases.”
Asked if there should also be fines to punish the offence, he said: “You would normally have fines for sentencing, we would view that as a matter for the legislature.
“We’re not saying that there should always be imprisonment, but we do need to define what perjury is and define the punishment.”
Asked if a sentence of five years in prison for perjury was harsh, he said: “That’s the issue, we don’t see this as a problem at all in Ireland.
“Perjury for personal injuries is theft. What sentence would you get if you stole €10,000, €50,000? There’s no difference.”
Fall in premiums
There is, however, already legislation in place to deal with lying to advance a personal injuries claim under the Civil Liabilities Act from 2004.
But McDonnell said that this legislation is not being acted on, claiming that legislating against perjury would strengthen the discouragement.
“Theoretically, it is an offence now, but being prosecuting people for it doesn’t happen,” he said.
McDonnell also said that the law could cover more areas than those contained in the existing regulations and may help tackle white-collar crime.
He gave the example of prosecuting people who approve a set of company accounts that they know contains false information under the law.
The ISME boss said that if the law helped change people’s perception of perjury and make them less likely to pursue spurious cases, pushing down overall insurance costs.
“A big fall will only happen when judges stop doling out €15,000 for whiplash instead of the €3,000 they give out in the UK,” he said.
“It would act like a sieve and will stop the patently fabricated claims going through. It will change the culture.
“Once one or two punters go to Mountjoy, solicitors will be having very different conversations with their clients.”
Insurance woes
A number of business sectors have complained about the effect high premiums were having on their industries.
The president of the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) recently told Fora that rates for hotel liability insurance had “gone through the roof” since 2015 – and many new entrants were effectively being locked out of the industry because they couldn’t get cover.
ISME said it had only found one prosecution for perjury in a civil case. The woman involved was handed a suspended sentence.
The UK introduced a perjury act for England and Wales in 1911, while Northern Ireland introduced a similar order in 1979. Many other common law jurisdictions, such as Canada and Australia, have similar provisions in their criminal codes.
The government is already setting up a database of fraudulent insurance claims after a report into tackling the spiralling costs for policyholders.
Some of the country’s largest insurance firms have claimed planned ‘rings’ of people staging car crashes are in operation around the country.
