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Planning Investigations and Legal Background for Tough Interviews 143

Important background on the law

RIGHT TO ASK QUESTIONS

In most countries, any question can be asked of anyone, subject to their not being discrimi-
natory on grounds of such things as sex, religion, ethnic origin, nationality, age or disability.
There is also an inherent right against self-incrimination and limited rights of protection
against intrusion by agencies of the State into the private lives of individuals under the human
rights laws (see page [xref])

RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT

People suspected of a crime have the right to remain silent and to have access to legal advice
once they have been arrested or are in custody. The exceptions include:

• certain regulatory, Serious Fraud Office and DTI investigations;
• health and safety enquiries;
• tax investigations (especially under the ‘Hansard’ procedure);1
• when required to answer under an employment or other contract.

In all other cases there is nothing to prevent you in a fair exchange from finding the truth by
asking questions, challenging, persuading, leading or guiding someone else to tell the truth.
It is a game of chess and a competition in which the liar engages because he believes he can
win. Successful interviewers do not disabuse him of this misconception until it is too late.

The Criminal Law in the UK

SCOPE

Fraud victims have rights of recovery under both the Civil and Criminal Law, although many
completely overlook the former and thus reduce their chances of success.

The hard truth is that most victims of fraud never get their money back, usually because
of poor planning

The Criminal Law is defined by statute or common practice and breaches can result in
punishment being imposed by the State, including imprisonment, restraining orders and fi-
nancial penalties. Examples of crimes include theft, murder, treason, robbery and fraud. Also,
attempts to commit crimes are usually punishable under the Criminal Law. An important
objective of the criminal justice system is to punish offenders so that others are deterred and
crime controlled but, judging by recent cases, this is not always obvious.

HOW ACTIONS ARE STARTED AND PROCESSED

Most criminal prosecutions are undertaken by government organizations, such as the police,
Customs and Excise or Inland Revenue but are usually based on a complaint by a victim. The
accused or defendant may be arrested or summonsed to appear in court on a specified date.

1 This procedure is used by the Inland Revenue where suspected tax evaders are invited to make a full frank disclosure.
If they do so, a more sympathetic approach is taken on prosecution