‘Earlier intervention and more formal measures of success are needed if confiscation orders are to be successfully used by the UK courts to deprive fraudsters of the proceeds of their crimes.’
OUT-LAW.com, 20th April 2016
Source: www.out-law.com
Regina v Brooks [2016] EWCA Crim 44
‘Following the seizure of a large consignment of cocaine by the Irish navy, the defendant was convicted in the United Kingdom of conspiracy to import drugs and sentenced to a term of imprisonment. In confiscation proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 the recorder ruled that the defendant had a criminal lifestyle for the purposes of section 75 of the 2002 Act. He assessed the defendant’s benefit as being a little over £3·6m, comprising the value of the drugs at just under £3m and a 50% interest in a Spanish property valued at £296,000, and held that the recoverable amount was the same as the benefit figure on the basis that, although the defendant’s identifiable assets amounted to just under £1,400, he had undisclosed assets which he had failed to show were less than his benefit. Accordingly, the recorder made a confiscation order in the sum of the benefit figure. The defendant appealed against the order on the grounds that the recorder had erred in (i) including the value of the drugs in the benefit figure on the basis that the defendant had purchased them or contributed to their purchase, when there was no evidence that the defendant had done so; (ii) including the value of the drugs in the recoverable amount, when they had been seized by the Irish authorities; and (iii) including the value of the property in the recoverable amount, when under Spanish law the defendant’s partner was the legal and equitable owner.’
WLR Daily, 10th March 2016
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘Tom Hayes, the former star trader serving an 11-year jail sentence for manipulating Libor interest rates, has been ordered to pay £878,806 after a court ruled the money was the proceeds of crime.’
The Guardian, 23rd March 2016
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘Slough Borough Council last month secured a £300,000 confiscation order, its largest ever under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.’
Local Government Lawyer, 18th November 2015
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘A former prison officer has been jailed for 12 months for selling stories about George Michael’s time behind bars to the Sun.’
The Guardian, 3rd November 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘New figures showing that criminals have still to re-pay a total of £774 million in ill-gotten gains highlights the need for law enforcement agencies to give greater priority to asset recovery in their criminal investigations, an expert has said.’
OUT-LAW.com, 8th October 2015
Source: www.out-law.com
‘A solicitor has been jailed for five and a half years for his role in a £4.3m land-banking scam.’
Legal Futures, 3rd June 2015
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘The self-styled ‘Lord’ Davenport’s fine is over criminal profits he made selling London mansion used for sex parties.’
Daily Telegraph, 21st May 2015
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘Ascribing benefit figures to immature plants is an increasingly common feature of cannabis plant confiscation proceedings.’
Park Square Barristers, 19th March 2015
Source: www.parksquarebarristers.co.uk
Regina v Doran and another [2015] EWCA Crim 384; [2015] WLR (D) 129
‘A surveillance operation mounted by Revenue and Customs because they suspected that a consignment of cigarettes were being imported with the purpose of evading the duty payable did not result in a disconnection between the goods and the importers. Revenue and Customs were thereby monitoring the import, not controlling it, so that a judge was entitled to find that the importers were “holding” the goods within the meaning of regulation 13(1) of the Tobacco Products Regulations 2001 and, by that means, were retaining their connection with the goods at the excise duty point.’
WLR Daily, 17th March 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Regina v Kakkad [2015] EWCA Crim 385; [2015] WLR (D) 130
‘In confiscation proceedings, in relation to the benefit to be assessed, the market value of cocaine, to the extent that it was matched by an available cutting agent, was that which would have been obtained by cutting it with that available agent. However, the value of cocaine which was not matched by an equivalent amount of cutting agent in the defendant’s control could not properly be valued on any basis other than its undiluted wholesale form.’
WLR Daily, 17th March 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘On Tuesday 17 March 2015, The Court of Appeal rejected an attempt by Robert Doran and Patrick Gray to write off confiscation orders made against them for £1,456,325.00 and £1,244,982.44 respectively, finding in favour of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).’
Crown Prosecution Service, 18th March 2015
Source: www.cps.gov.uk
Regina v McDowell; Regina v Singh [2015] EWCA Crim 173; [2015] WLR (D) 84
‘Where trading receipts were obtained as a result of lawful trading activity rather than a failure to register particulars with the local authority under the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 1964 before carrying on business as a scrap metal dealer, the trading activity was not criminal conduct from which benefit accrued, and the trading receipts were excluded from the criminal lifestyle provisions under section 75(2) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.’
WLR Daily, 19th February 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘Mobile phone companies will be forced to cut off signals to handsets being used by inmates in prisons, under planned new laws.’
Daily Telegraph, 4th January 2015
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘Monday sees the return of the government’s Counter Terrorism and Security Bill to the Commons where MPs will get their say on the legislation’s most controversial measure: should ministers be able to ban British citizens from coming home?’
BBC News, 15th December 2014
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘A landlord who built an outbuilding and converted it into six small flats without planning permission has been ordered to pay more than £280,000.’
Local Government Lawyer, 11th November 2014
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘Martin Hickman, who was convicted in relation to the illegal sale and supply of medicinal products in 2009, has been extradited from Spain and jailed for 10 years after failure to pay a confiscation order made against him in 2012 at Southwark Crown Court.’
Crown Prosecution Service, 2nd October 2014
Source: www.cps.gov.uk
‘A former police community support officer (PCSO) has avoided jail after he admitted tipping off the Sun that supermodel Naomi Campbell was in custody over an allegation of assault.’
The Guardian, 18th September 2014
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘Following extensive work both in the UK and Dubai, the new CPS Proceeds of Crime Service (CPSPOC) in London, working closely with the recently deployed CPS Asset Recovery Advisor in Dubai, has secured what is believed to be the first ever successful enforcement of a UK confiscation order in the UAE. The UK has recovered over £300,000 from the sale of an apartment in Dubai Marina belonging to a convicted British criminal.’
Crown Prosecution Service, 21th August 2014
Source: www.cps.gov.uk
‘A “retired” high-profile criminal has lost a high court battle over how much he has to pay back from his days of crime.’
The Guardian, 11th August 2014
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
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