COURT OF APPEAL (CRIMINAL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM SOUTHWARK CROWN COURT
HIS HONOUR JUDGE MOTA-SINGH QC
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL | ||
B e f o r e :
MR JUSTICE BENNETT
and
HIS HONOUR JUDGE STEPHENS QC
____________________
REGINA | ||
- v- | ||
NACI VEDAT NATJI |
____________________
Smith Bernal Reporting Limited, 190 Fleet Street
London EC4A 2AG
Tel No: 020 7421 4040, Fax No: 020 7831 8838
Official Shorthand Writers to the Court)
Mr F Sheridan (instructed by CPS) for the Crown
____________________
AS APPROVED BY THE COURT
Crown Copyright ©
Mr Justice Bennett:
Section 1(2) of the 1889 Act provides:-
“Every person who shall by himself or by or in conjunction with any other person corruptly give, promise, or offer any gift, loan, fee, reward, or advantage whatsoever to any person, whether for the benefit of that person or another person, as an inducement to or reward for or otherwise on account of any member, officer, or servant of any public as in this Act defined, doing or forbearing to do anything in respect of any matter or transaction whatsoever, actual or proposed, in which such public body as aforesaid is concerned, shall be guilty of a misdemeanour.”
“In this Act –
The expression “public body” means any council of a county or county [sic] of a city or town, any council of a municipal borough, also any board, commissioners, select vestry, or other body which has power to act under and for the purposes of any Act relating to local government, or the public health, or to poor law or otherwise to administer money raised by rates in pursuance of any public general Act, but does not include any public body as defined existing elsewhere than in the United Kingdom:”
“If any person corruptly gives or agrees to give or offers any gift or consideration to any agent as an inducement or reward for doing or forbearing to do, or for having after the passing of this Act done or forborne to do, any act in relation to his principal’s affairs or business, or for showing or forbearing to show favour or disfavour to any person in relation to his principal’s affairs or business”...
he shall be guilty of a misdemeanour and liable, so far as this case is concerned, on conviction on indictment to a term of imprisonment not exceeding 2 years or to a fine not exceeding £500 or both.
The maximum sentence of imprisonment is now 7 years and the fine is unlimited.
“A person serving under the Crown or under any corporation or any borough, county, or district council, or any board of guardians, is an agent within the meaning of this Act.”
“(1) This Act may be cited as the Prevention of Corruption Act 1916, and the Public Bodies Corrupt Practices Act 1889, the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906, and this Act may be cited together as the Prevention of Corruption Act 1889 – 1916.
(2) In this Act and in the Public Bodies Corrupt Practices Act 1889, the expression “public body” includes in addition to the bodies mentioned in the last mentioned Act, local and public authorities of all descriptions [and companies which in accordance with Part V of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 are under the control of one or more local authorities].”
The words in square brackets were added by the Local Government and
Housing Act 1989.
“The question for us has been what the words “public body” meant in 1916, not what the words “public authority” meant in statutes passed many years later. The use of the same or similar words in later statutes may be of some help; but we have reminded ourselves that many considerations affect the wording of statutes. This is illustrated by the reference to the Prevention of Corruption Acts 1889 – 1916 in section 62(2) of the Civil Aviation Act 1971. It seems to us likely that this reference was made because the parliamentary draughtsman knew of the judgment of Winn J. in R v Newbould [1962] 2 QB 102, which was strongly relied upon by Mr Beezley before this court. That judge had ruled that the National Coal Board was not a public body for the purposes of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1889 to 1916. He had based his ruling upon the absence of any reference to “public authority” in the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946 and the application of the ejusdem generis rule.”
“The Act of 1906 extended the ambit of the act of 1889 to agents; persons serving under the Crown were deemed to be agents within the meaning of this act. The Act of 1916 was an amending one. It was passed rapidly through parliament following some criticisms made by Low J. of the penalties described by the Acts of 1889 and 1906: see “The Times”, September 18, 1916. Within a few weeks a draft bill was presented to parliament; it had two clauses later to become sections 1 and 2 of the Act of 1916. Section 4 (2) got into the Act as a result of an amendment moved by Lord Buckmaster in the House of Lords. The reason he gave for moving the amendment is irrelevant to its construction; but nothing in what he said has caused us to hesitate over what meaning we give to the words “local and public authorities of all descriptions” in the sub-section.
By 1916 the words “public authorities” have often been construed by the courts for the purpose of applying the Public Authorities Protection Act 1893. In the Johannesburg [1907] P65, the issue was whether the Tyne Improvement Commission was a public authority for the purposes of that act. Sir Gorrell Barnes P. examined the statutes under which the commission performed its duties. It performed public duties; its powers were directed to public ends; it did not concern itself with making gain or profit saving so far as was necessary to enable it to perform its public duties in accordance with the Acts constituting it. This case was considered by the House of Lords in Griffiths v Smith [1941] A.C. 170 and approved: see the speech of Lord Porter at pp. 205-206. These two cases, taken together, support the definition of a public authority given in Halsbury’s Laws of England 3rd Ed., Vol 30 (1959), para 1317:
“A public authority is a body, not necessarily a county council, municipal corporation or other local authority, which has public or statutory duties to perform, and which performs those duties and carries out its transactions for the benefit of the public and not for private profit”.
When this definition is applied to the North Thames Gas Board it is clear that it is a public body. It was constituted pursuant to section 1 of the Gas Act 1948 to…”.
Lord Justice Lawton then set out the relevant provision of the Gas Act.
“The registration of births, deaths and marriages is one of the functions of central government. The Registrar General is appointed under the Great Seal. The celebration of marriage affects the status of the parties to the marriage and change of personal status is the concern of the state. The duties of an additional superintendent registrar are performed by him on behalf of the Crown, it being necessary for the Crown to exercise its function through some human agency.”
“Where in any proceedings against a person for an offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906 or the Public Bodies Corrupt Practices Act 1989 it is proved that any money, gift, or other consideration has been paid or given to or received by a person in the employment of [Her] Majesty or any government department or a public body by or from a person, or agent or a person, holding or seeking to obtain a contract from [Her] Majesty or any government body, the money… should be deemed to have been paid and received corruptly as such inducement or reward as is mentioned in such Act unless the contrary is proved.”
It is apparent from a consideration of section 2 of the 1916 Act that the draughtsman is making a distinction between the Crown and any government department and “ a public body”. If the words in section 4(2) of the 1916 Act “public authorities of all descriptions” included the Crown or a government department then the wording of section 2 in so far as the Crown and any government department were referred to was unnecessary.