The Spectator - 29.02.2020

the spectator | 29 february 2020 | http://www.spectator.co.uk 17

given to criminal organisations. The govern-

ment would be actively aiding and abetting

the growth of criminal enterprise on a huge

scale. That is something that taxpayers might

not be very happy about.

But there has been no reappraisal. Noth-

ing significant has been done to address the

problem. It hardly even seems to be recog-

nised. There has been no announcement, no

policy proposal, no speeches by the Home

Secretary or the Justice Secretary. Search

across police and government websites for

‘organised crime’, and you will find a lot of

disturbing material about the consequenc-

es of allowing organised criminal groups to

flourish unchecked. But you won’t find any-

thing that suggests organised crime is quiet-

ly infiltrating public sector procurement and

making a fortune from it.

That may be because the government, the

police and the prosecuting authorities are all

at a loss as to how to stop it. During my time

at the Home Office, we discussed a forthcom-

ing speech by Theresa May, then Home Sec-

retary, about the dangers of organised crime.

I was shown a police briefing about the scale

of its infiltration of the public sector. It was so

secret that I had to read it under the eye of a

senior police officer before he took it back.

It seems this is a battle ministers have

chosen not to fight, but why? What makes

them so reluctant to try to defeat a develop-

ment that poses a moral threat to the integ-

rity of government? Procurement rules and

regulations are complicated and difficult to

enforce, but is it really beyond the combined

intelligence of ministers and officials to pre-

vent companies known to be controlled

by criminals from being handed contracts

worth hundreds of millions of pounds?

It would surely not be hard to require

organisations spending public money to

check with police before awarding a con-

tract. CRB checks are compulsory for any-

one applying for a job that involves working

with children: why couldn’t similar checks

be done with companies tendering for

public sector contracts? The short answer

is: EU Directive 2004/18/EC, Article 45.

In the UK, it’s taken to mean that com-

panies can only be excluded from being

awarded government contracts if one or

more of their directors have been con-

victed of a serious offence. Police intel-

ligence that a company is suspected of

involvement in racketeering or some other

form of criminal enterprise cannot legally

be used to prevent it from winning a public

sector contract.

But now we have left the EU and the

jurisdiction of the European Court, that

regulation should not be a problem — at

least in theory. Practice may be very differ-

ent. Supposing parliament gets around to

repealing EU Directive 2004/18/EC, Article

45 (and we have incorporated all EU law

into our own statute book, so it will have to

be explicitly repealed), it will then require

a great deal of activity on the part of public

sector procurement officials to start check-

ing whether a company that has won, or is

now tendering for, a government-financed

contract is linked with organised crime, and

should thus be barred from receiving any

government money. Criminal organisations

have successfully sued councils for cancel-

ling their contracts. Even when EU Direc-

tive 2004/18/EC, Article 45, is gone, they may

still be able to do so.

It will also require officials to show a

considerable degree of personal courage.

Although organised crime’s infiltration of

government doesn’t usually involve explicit

threats of violence, there certainly have

been cases of officials being told by thugs

that: ‘We know where your children go to

school — bear that in mind when you make

the decision on who to award this contract.’

Generally, however, the process by which

the integrity of government is corrupted is

much more insidious. It is through the cor-

ruption of lawyers and accountants and

associated professionals who provide cover

for what the criminals do and make expos-

ing it much harder. Lies, deception, intimida-

tion, cheating and above all waste of public

money are the characteristics of organised

crime as it moves in on the public sector,

rather than the explicit violence depicted

in movies and TV shows. That is one reason

why it is so hard to deal with it.

Every individual who is part of a crimi-

nal organisation knows that ‘he who has the

gold makes the rules’. We are handing crimi-

nals a great deal of gold. Sooner or later, we

shall find that we have to play by their rules.

It is hard to overstate what a catastrophe for

the integrity, the honesty, and the efficiency

of our government that will be.

‘I’ve been made Impermanent Secretary.’

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Criminal groups have

successfully sued councils

for cancelling their contracts

Alasdair Palmer AM_29 Feb 2020_The Spectator 17 26/02/2020 11: