Asset recovery

Money is the lifeblood of most serious organised crime, and pursuing criminals’ finances is one of the most effective ways of damaging their ability to operate. For many serious organised criminals, losing their assets is a greater threat than serving a prison sentence.

We want criminals to know that crime doesn’t pay and that they shouldn’t expect to keep their criminal proceeds. That’s why we use all the powers at our disposal to recover money and assets which have come from criminal activity. The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) provides the tools for us and our partners to do this.

Fewer assets means less crime

Asset recovery reduces the capital that criminals can reinvest in criminality. It also increases the risks and reduces the rewards – two key things which influence criminal decision-making.

Every SOCA investigation considers the use of financial intelligence and asset recovery. By better understanding how money is generated and circulated, and why certain methods are employed, we can cause the maximum disruption to serious organised criminals.

There are four main asset recovery powers under POCA, which we use to recover the proceeds of crime and put money back in the public purse:

• Criminal confiscation
  In cases where there is a criminal conviction, SOCA or prosecutors can apply to the Court for a Confiscation Order to recoup the ‘benefit’ from those crimes from the defendant.
  
  The court must decide the extent of a defendant’s benefit from criminality and the extent and whereabouts of the available assets. The court then orders the defendant to pay a set amount, with a prison sentence to be served (in addition to paying the order) if this amount is not paid on time.
  
  
• Civil Recovery and Tax
  The Serious Crime Act 2007 extended civil recovery and tax powers of the Assets Recovery Agency to SOCA and civil recovery powers to the major prosecuting agencies.
  
  These powers provide options beyond traditional criminal conviction. For example, when assets are based in the UK but the suspect is overseas and cannot be traced, or when the suspect has absconded.
  
  
• Civil Recovery
  Part 5 of POCA enables SOCA and prosecutors to bring civil proceedings to prove that property has been obtained through unlawful conduct even if there is no criminal conviction.
  
  
• Tax
  Under Part 6 of POCA, we can levy taxes where we have ‘reasonable grounds to suspect’ that:
  
  • income or gain accruing to a person is a result of criminal conduct; and,
  • a company’s profits are chargeable to corporation tax and are a result of criminal conduct.

Referrals to SOCA

Where a law enforcement agency or prosecution authority has a criminal case which it has been unable to prosecute successfully, it can refer the case to SOCA for consideration for civil recovery or tax action if it meets the following criteria:

• recoverable property has been identified and has an estimated value of at least £10,000;
• recoverable property has been acquired in the last 12 years (20 years for tax);
• recoverable property includes property other than cash, cheques and the like (although cash can be recovered in addition to other property);
• there is evidence proven to civil standards of criminal conduct;
• for tax cases there must be reasonable suspicion that untaxed income has resulted from criminality.

Information for law enforcement partners who want to make a referral to SOCA for consideration

Cash seizure and forfeiture

SOCA officers with the appropriate powers can seize cash if they believe it has been obtained through unlawful conduct or is destined for use in unlawful conduct. We can then apply to the court to either detain the cash (to allow time to investigate its origin) or seize it.

Taking cash disrupts criminal activity directly by denying criminals access to working capital and removing the benefits of their crimes.

Community Cashback Scheme

Assets recovered from criminals by SOCA and other agencies under criminal, civil, tax and cash forfeiture powers are paid into a centralised fund. A proportion of this is returned to law enforcement and prosecution authorities for reinvestment in asset recovery work and for schemes to benefit the community.

A proportion also goes to the ‘Community Cashback Scheme’, which gives local people a say on how criminal assets are spent in the fight against crime.

Asset recovery – find out more now

If you want to know more about what we do with financial intelligence read about the UK Financial Intelligence Unit here.