Proceeds of Crime Act 2002
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Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (2002 c. 29) is a United Kingdom law which provided for civil recovery and created the Assets Recovery Agency, amongst other things.
Amongst other things the 2002 act made it easier to convict criminal suspects because prior to it being enacted, prosecutors had to rely on the DTA 1994 for offences of drug trafficking or the Criminal Justice Act 1988 as amended by the Criminal Justice Act 1993 for proceeds of other crimes. In essence prior to 2002, a prosecuting lawyer whilst proving the monies or assests where the proceeds of crime, it equally had to be proved what 'type' of crime the proceeds came from. This earlier position for criminal prosecutors, made convictions all the more difficult. The 2002 Act has removed the problem, by removing the need to make a distinction between types of crime that brought forth the proceeds.
The first act of Parliament for England and Wales aimed at stripping criminals of their ill-gotten gains was the Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986. Scotland was provided with similar powers under the Criminal Justice (Scotland Act) 1987. These acts of Parliament were introduced following the House of Lords ruling that under the current law as it then was some £750,0000 had to be returned to the a gang of drug dealers. These proceeds had been traced to the defendants in a police operation codenamed “Operation Julie” in 1978. Powers for the courts to confiscate proceeds of crime were extended under the Criminal Justice Act 1988 and the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1995. These Acts provided the courts with powers to confiscate proceeds of crime where an offence had been committed other than drug trafficking offences, in specified circumstances. Powers for the courts in Northern Ireland to confiscate proceeds in both drug trafficking and other offences was introduced by Criminal Justice (Confiscation) (Northern Ireland) Order 1990. These acts were amended by: Criminal Justice Act 1993, the Drug Trafficking Act 1994, the Proceeds of Crime (Scotland) Act 1995 and the Proceeds of Crime (Northern Ireland) Order 1996). These powers were draconian and apparently intended to be so by Parliament. Further more draconian powers were introduced under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 [1]
The Act is in twelve parts and embraces 12 schedules and 462 sections.
- PART 1: ASSETS RECOVERY AGENCY (Sections 1 - 5)
- PART 2: CONFISCATION: ENGLAND AND WALES (Sections 6 - 91)
- PART 3: CONFISCATION SCOTLAND Sections 92–154
- PART 4 CONFISCATION: NORTHERN IRELAND Sections 155–239
- PART 5: CIVIL RECOVERY OF THE PROCEEDS ETC.(Sections 240 - 316)
- PART 6: REVENUE FUNCTIONS (Sections 317 - 326)
- PART 7: MONEY LAUNDERING (Sections 327 - 340)
- PART 8: INVESTIGATIONS (Sections 341 - 416)
- PART 9: INSOLVENCY ETC (Sections 417 - 434)
- PART 10: INFORMATION (Sections 435 - 442)
- PART 11: CO-OPERATION (Sections 443 - 447)
- PART 12: MISCELLANEOUS AND GENERAL (Sections 448 - 462)
Contents |
[edit] Part 1
Sections 1 - 5 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 provides for the establishment of the Assets Recovery Agency and for the Secretary of State to appoint its Director. The section gives the Director power to employ staff and delegate his function to staff to carry out his role. The office of Director has legal personality. The section makes it clear that Director must pay attention to guidance given by the Secretary of State which is calculated to contribute to the reduction of crime. The Assets Recovery Agency was provided with completely new powers by the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. The new powers allow the Assets Recovery Agency to use the civil court procedures to recover the proceeds of unlawful conduct by way of an action in the High Court. Where there are reasonable grounds to suspect there is taxable income gain or profit the Agency also has the power to issue tax assessments.
On 11th January 2007, the Home Office laid a Written Ministerial Statement before Parliament setting out Government proposals to merge the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) with the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), and to extend to prosecutors the power to launch civil recovery action under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.[2]
[edit] Part 2
Sections 6 - 91 deal with the transfer of power to make confiscation orders from the Magistrates Court and High Court to the Crown Court. The High Court can no longer make Restraint Orders or Charging Orders and the Magistrates Court must commit confiscation cases to the Crown Court. These changes apply to offences committed after the commencement of the act on 23 March 2003
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 Commentary
- ^ Hansard: 11 Jan 2007 : Column WS19: Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Vernon Coaker) written Ministerial Statement.
[edit] External links
- Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (2002 c. 29): full text of the act
