THE former Federal Court judge Ray Finkelstein, QC, has slammed the judiciary for being too soft on white-collar crime, saying lenient sentencing creates the impression of one law for the rich and another for the poor.

Mr Finkelstein, who retired from the Federal Court last year and headed the government's recent media inquiry, also raised the possibility that for some white-collar crimes the level of proof required to convict could be lowered from the traditional criminal level of ''beyond reasonable doubt''.

"A law for the rich and a law for the poor" ...Ray Finkelstein.

In an opinion piece published in the Tax Office magazine Targeting Tax Crime, he said judges tend to regard imprisonment of white-collar criminals as a ''last resort''.

''Probably the reason is a belief that imprisonment has a far greater detrimental effect on a white-collar criminal,'' he said.