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Stafford NHS, Horse Meat and Banker Crime

Who is to blame?
Serious crimes are being committed but no-one is being punished.  

I have not commented on the Stafford Hospital Scandal or the Horse Meat fraud because they have taken some time to mature and are closely linked.

The Stafford Hospital Scandal was hushed up by the Government, the Royal College of Nursing and the local NHS Trust, responsibility for investigating the negligence fell between the NHS, HSE, Health Department, BMA, RCN and Police and no-one is being prosecuted yet.  The worst crime committed would be Gross Negligence Manslaughter, applicable to the nurses and administrators involved but the NHS itself might be charged with corporate manslaughter.

The Horse Meat fraud (the fraudulent substitution of horse meat for beef) was kept silent by government until after David Cameron's "we must stay in the EU" speech because it demonstrated a failure in EU Regulations,  it also involved divided responsibility for investigating the fraud between Environmental Health, Food Standards Authority, Europe and the Police and no-one is being prosecuted.

Banker Crime is ongoing and was hushed up in the period 2000-2008, responsibility for investigating it fell between the FSA, SFO, Bank of England and the Police, no-one in the major banks has been prosecuted.

There is a pattern here.  Regulation and enforcement is diffuse, the police and Crown Prosecution Service do not identify when crimes are being committed and no-one is punished.

This failure to regulate, enforce and prosecute is having dire consequences.  The crimes spread and multiply, not content with killing its patients the NHS illegally gags and buys off whistleblowers , the banks realise they can get away with anything and cheat their customers everywhere and the EU and government think it is better to hide fraud or shrug it off than to pursue it.

The heart of the problem lies with the police, CPS, judiciary and penal system.  The police must be clear that when an activity becomes fraud or negligence bordering on manslaughter they must intervene.  However, it is no use for the police to intervene, the CPS to prosecute and millions to be spent just so that the criminals can have a relaxing holiday in open prison for a few months (see note) before enjoying their ill-gotten gains.  The judiciary and penal system must be reformed so that they take firm action.

White collar crimes are often given derisory penalties and those convicted go to open prison where they serve as little as 25% of their sentence before release. If you are just negligently killing a couple of thousand patients or fraudulently selling billions in insurance you will not be prosecuted. This failure of the CPS to prosecute and the judiciary to sentence adequately was the true message of Leveson Inquiry into the Press but seemed to be missed by the media.
 
White collar crime pays, sentences are now so derisory that newspapers say "the six men were sentenced to a total of 18 years" because each individual is virtually let off.  Whether it is cheating charities of millions, Credit card fraud for millions, fraudulently selling millions of pounds worth of fake shares or defrauding the entire British public of hundreds of billions you will either fail to be prosecuted or be given 30 months and actually serve 8 months in open prison.  White collar crime pays millions of pounds per year spent in jail.

White collar crime is a calculated risk.  These criminals deliberately weigh up the chances of being caught and the possible punishment against the financial and other rewards.  Punishment is a huge deterrent for white collar criminals and these criminals must be punished.  All proceeds of such crimes, such as government pensions for civil servants and actual wealth must be seized and any status such as Knighthoods removed.

Serious crimes are being committed but no-one is being punished.  This is usually a sign of corruption.

If you found this article interesting link to it, tweet it (TinyURL  http://tinyurl.com/b3gdalh ),  and tell your friends! If you don't act then who will?  


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See also:

The Leveson Inquiry and Report into the Press

Note: "The 109 persons convicted in Serious Fraud Office cases 2000-2005 received an average of 31.7 months imprisonment; half of them got 3 years or less. The average sentence imposed on the most severely sentenced person per case was 37.7 months’ imprisonment. Eight persons received sentences longer than five years; 19 people received 4-5 year sentences; and 22 people (mostly co-defendants in cases where others were imprisoned) received non-custodial sentences." Sentencing Frauds: A review - Cardiff University


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