BOOK REVIEW: Life on the inside

Subtitled ‘the key to avoiding the risk’, this book is an excellent introduction to a  complicated subject.

Insider dealing has only been an offence in the UK since 1980. Other countries did not legislate until much later. Some people have argued it should not be a crime at all. Certainly, some cases are blatant cheating but who is the victim?

It seems to be a legislative nightmare. Who or what is an insider? That is, defined as ‘a person [who] has information as an insider… if he knows that it is, inside information and he has it… from an inside source’ (section 57 (1) of the Criminal Justice Act 1993).

Although difficult to investigate and prosecute, this type of white-collar crime can easily lead to the insider being an insider in another sense. The threat of imprisonment concentrates the mind.

Surprisingly, many wrongdoers keep detailed notes and records

of their activity and use poorly

executed attempts to disguise dealings.

This book explains the history of the law, the first few prosecutions, the different offences, what is suspicious behaviour and the duty to disclose. There is an overlapping civil regulatory regime. All of this is well illustrated by case law.

David Pickup is a partner at Pickup & Scott Solicitors, Aylesbury