Governments have failed miserably on business crime And it is not only a money issue, it is a very profound political one. Now is the time to stop pretending that we can, or indeed that we do, treat shoplifting and commercial crime alike. We cannot and indeed do not. In the case of both prosecutors are required to consider whether prosecution is in the public interest. Prosecuting a shoplifter of previously good character may destroy one person's career. Prosecuting a multinational may destroy the jobs of thousands. Ask yourself, which would you regard as being the more important: safe-guarding the country's economy, its tax base and its jobs or simply sending a dramatic message to the market that may or may not act as an ethical handbrake. The morals are uncomfortable and the choice is unattractive but it is closer to reality than the juggling trick that successive governments have tried to perform in managing public expectations about the conduct of business and the behaviour of the "fats cats." So, in one way, discussion about special criminal offences for banks that are reckless, taxing companies who own up to fraud or bribery by so-called deferred prosecutions agreements, and other nostrums are either premature or irrelevant. First, decide - are we really prepared to reform our criminal law to facilitate the prosecution of companies? If we are, would we pursue companies to destruction as a deterrent? Could we really cope with the damage to our economy if we struck a strong moral stance? It is likely to prove easier to persuade well-paid comedians to pay all their tax than it will be to persuade business to accept a robust regulatory climate in which to operate at a time of critical financial meltdown. Both businesses and the electorate are surely entitled to know where politicians stand on this issue. After all, governments have had more than half a century to adjust to the policing of the new world business order. Sad to say, both as individual sovereign states and collectively, they have failed miserably. Business crime has joined the ranks of other forms of organised crime, it may be too late to catch the bus because it has not only left the station but is out of sight down the road. It is not too late, however, to come clean: surely we can do something more than sit back like Pliny the Elder while we are gradually suffocated by the pumice from the new eruption in the Square Mile. Monty Raphael QC, is Special Counsel at Peters & Peters Solicitors