Corporate lawyers have rejected suggestions by the head of the corporate regulator that Australia needs tougher penalties to be dished out to corporate criminals in order to effectively stamp out illegal behaviour, saying the ­suggestion fails to take into account what deters white-collar criminals.

The issue of corporate crime made headlines last month after the ­chairman of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, Greg Medcraft, told business journalists Australia was a paradise for ­white-collar criminals, before retracting his comments less than 24 hours later. The comments appeared to be made in ­relation to criminal charges.