Loophole in UK FOIA law will apparently allow CRU to avoid prosecution

It appears that poorly crafted law is going to mean no prosecutions for any of the CRU collaborators in the now famous leaked emails and documents. This from The Bishop Hill blog:

I’ve just come off the phone to the investigations office at the Information Commissioner’s office. I had made a request for information to UEA that, while only peripherally related to Climategate, has now turned up some interesting new information.

My original request was from a couple of years ago, asking for any correspondence between the CRU’s Mike Hulme and the BBC in relation to a body called the Cambridge Media and Environment Programme (see here for some background on this story). The original response from UEA was that all Prof Hulme’s emails prior to 2005 had been lost, an admission that appears rather embarrassing in the light of CRU’s suggestion that they had lost some of their original temperature data.

However, when the Climategate emails were released I noticed several email from Mike Hulme predating 2005, which appeared to contradict the earlier assertion that all such emails had been lost. Intrigued, I wrote to the Information Commissioner asking that this be investigated and today I had my response.

First off, I was told that while there appeared to be a problem, I needed to be clear that there would be no prosecutions under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act, regardless of the final outcome of the investigation. Although withholding or destroying information is a criminal offence under the terms of the Act, apparently no prosecutions can be brought for offences committed more than six months prior. As anyone who has made a UK FoI request knows, it can take six months to exhaust the internal review process before the ICO even becomes involved. The ICO can then take another six months before starting his investigation.

It seems quite clear that civil servants are able to withhold and destroy information without any consequences and it’s interesting to ponder how such a dramatic flaw can have found its way into the terms of the Act. Of course we in the UK are used to poorly drafted laws finding their way onto the statute books, but we might also consider the thought that Sir Humphrey might have knowingly inserted this crucial error, in order to ensure that when push came to shove he could keep things quiet without any concerns that he might find himself in hot water.

I’m sure the collective of CRU is breathing a sigh of relief knowing this, however there may be other unforeseen repercussions coming from the investigation, and UEA may have other rules for professional conduct that may apply.

Well, it looks like the lying decline hiding climate fraudsters are going to be able to get away with their crimes. I'm not too surprised.

2 posted on 01/27/2010 9:06:06 AM PST by steelyourfaith (FReepers were opposed to Obama even before it was cool to be against Obama.)

CRU lied when they said that there were no 2005 emails.

That *lie* is reason enough for them to be defunded and stripped of academic credentials.

3 posted on 01/27/2010 9:06:52 AM PST by Southack (Media Bias means that Castro won't be punished for Cuban war crimes against Black Angolans in Africa)

"It appears that poorly crafted law is going to mean no prosecutions for any of the CRU collaborators in the now famous leaked emails and documents."

That's unfortunate, but there's no doubt that the Global Warming cabal (at CRU and elsewhere) will be thoroughly convicted in the court of public opinion.

Their ridiculous theory has been exposed for the big lie that it is, and they along with it.

4 posted on 01/27/2010 9:16:54 AM PST by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)

Obtaining money under false pretenses? That should stick.

Were we really expecting anything else? Leftists protecting Leftist Government.

I wasn't, as it seems this type of stuff has been happening for decades now, even in the US.

6 posted on 01/27/2010 9:25:37 AM PST by OldMissileer (Atlas, Titan, Minuteman, PK. Winners of the Cold War)

Obtaining money under false pretenses? That should stick.

Good point. Who needs the FOIA, when thousands of emails and docs have already been leaked to the world. The evidence we already have is incontrovertible, and damning.

Somewhere, some court ought to be able to convict these criminals, but it will take a huge and angry backlash from the public to give the government the political cover to prosecute them.

7 posted on 01/27/2010 9:30:25 AM PST by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)

Well, even if they are never prosecuted, they know the jig is up, and their lies about the climate are out there for all to see. I foresee grant money beginning to dry up, which will hit them where it hurts the most.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.