On 27 February 2008 the Metropolitan Police Service launched its “Payback Fortnight" highlighting how the money and assets they are taking back from criminals is being put into worthwhile community projects and local policing. The Metropolitan Police Service seizes £40,000 of criminal money and assets every day. Last year over 1,700 people across London lost their money, cars or houses to the Proceeds of Crime Act which enables police to seize such items unless the person in possession of the assets or money can prove they gained it with legitimately earned money. This recovered money is then used to provide more police officers - last year an additional 90 police officers were paid for from criminal's illegitimate earnings, and fund community projects - £500,000 a year is given to the Safer London Foundation who provide funds for worthwhile community projects across London. Examples of the kind of projects this money has funded include:

·         The Ahoy Sailing Project which offers the opportunity for young people to be involved in learning to sail, race, row, maintain boats, join holiday schemes and assist in race management. The aim of the project is to target disadvantaged groups of young people and offer activities to build self-esteem, self-confidence and training.

·         The Gates Projects provides advice to people who have either been a victim of gang or gun violence, or who are trying to detach themselves from being in a gang. They provide a face to face service and also provide a text support service.

·         The Terry Booker Foundation which was started by a woman whose son was murdered in 2000. She offers a support group to other mothers who have suffered similar bereavements.

For further information visit www.saferlondonfoundation.org.uk

On 18 January 2008 at Reading Crown Court a Holyport couple were ordered to pay back nearly £40,000. They were prosecuted by Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Trading Standards for selling counterfeit goods on an internet auction site. The husband and wife were each ordered to pay £18,316 within nine months or face a default sentence of nine months. The confiscation order was made following the borough’s first Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) investigation. The couple were originally prosecuted by trading standards in 2006 and convicted of conspiracy to defraud and other Trade Marks Act offences relating to the sale of counterfeit golf clubs, clothing, jewellery and other items on the online auction site.

On 14 January 2008 at Leicester Crown Court, Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) Financial Investigators working in partnership with Leicester Trading Standards secured a Confiscation Order worth £77,500 against a convicted counterfeiter. He was convicted on 26 April 2007 at Market Harborough Magistrates Court.  The case was referred to the Agency in April 2007 by Leicester County Trading Standards to carry out the financial investigation. At the hearing in January he was sentenced to three months imprisonment suspended for 12 months provided he carries out 120 hours community work. His benefit from criminal conduct was determined at £119,701 and he was ordered to pay back £77,500. He had to make an initial payment of £15,000 by 28 January 2008 and the remainder of the order by 14 April 2008, or face a default sentence of 18 months. David Bull, Head of Trading Standards, Leicestershire County Council, said: “This is our first major case to be dealt with in this way.  It sends out a clear warning to those who deal in counterfeit goods, as all cases of this nature will now be considered for action under the Proceeds of Crime Act.”

A Joint investigation between Hertsmere Council, the London Borough of Brent and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Financial Investigation Unit has resulted in a confiscation order of £452,416. A Hertfordshire man benefited from obtaining Housing/Council Tax benefit by making claims in false names, as well as using National Insurance numbers that were genuine but belonged to others, plus the non-declaration of his bank accounts. All benefit was awarded on the basis of low income, being the only income in the household and showing no savings in accounts. To further his criminal activity the man also claimed to be the landlord in the false claims, using two businesses for the various addresses.  Both these businesses were owned by him and were linked to him by using his home addresses as the trading office. In addition he set up “virtual offices”, where they would deal with post or phone calls to avoid further suspicion of where benefit monies were being paid to. Cheques addressed to the fictitious landlords would be collected / deposited into accounts controlled by the defendant. False claims submitted to Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, London Borough’s of Hackney and Newham were also identified. Following arrest in 2004 the man was charged with offences amounting to £18,522 in November 2006. DWP conducted a financial investigation and found he owned five properties at various times, some of which were obtained using falsified accounts, national insurance numbers and personal details, 12 bank accounts, and four businesses. The criminal benefit was determined at £1,043,070 and an order was made in the sum of £452,416.

On 17 January 2008 the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) was granted an Order to recover assets worth a minimum of £4 million by the High Court in Belfast. The Consent Order was granted following an agreed settlement between the Agency and a man and a woman from Co Antrim. The case was referred to ARA in May 2003 by Police Service Northern Ireland. In its civil recovery action ARA submitted that the defendants had derived the majority of their assets from the proceeds of crime. On 16 January 2008 the respondents entered into negotiations with ARA and they agreed to settle all the Agency’s civil recovery and tax claims.  Interim Director, Alan McQuillan said: “We have recovered around 80 per cent of all the known assets including 40 properties in mid Ulster with a net value of around £4 million. This will settle our civil recovery and tax claims. This is our largest recovery ever in Northern Ireland and is a fantastic result”.

On 5 Febraury 2008 the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) reported they had obtained a Civil Recovery Order in the High Court in London worth an estimated £750,000 against a couple from Norbury, London. The Agency successfully argued that the man had obtained his assets through the human trafficking of people, mainly women from Eastern Europe (in particular Romania and Moldova) through to France and onward into the UK where many were forced to work in brothels to repay their 'debts'. The recoverable assets included a property in Norbury London, £11,000 in a number of bank accounts and a high value car. The respondents were also ordered to pay costs. This case was referred to the Agency in July 2005 by the then National Crime Squad (now the Serious Organised Crime Agency), following a joint international immigration operation with the French authorities – ‘Op Jaundiced’. In 2004 this man and other members of his gang were arrested in France and the UK. In February 2005 he was convicted in the Nice Court of First Instance on six counts and he was  sentenced to eight years imprisonment. He was fined 500,000 euros and his apartment in France was confiscated. However, the French authorities could not use his UK assets to satisfy the fine. The case was referred to ARA on the basis that once released he would still have access to substantial assets which had been purchased with the proceeds of his illegal activities, namely people trafficking. Charlie Dickin, ARA Deputy Director of Operations said: "We successfully concluded this investigation after the French authorities were unable to pursue the UK assets in this case. Trafficking women for prostitution in this way is a modern form of slavery. This man had amassed significant assets from his unlawful activity and we clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of our unique civil powers in ensuring we reduce harm in our communities."

On 9 January 2008 at Bradford Crown Court three men, who were jailed in February 2006 for running a large-scale cannabis farm in Lincolnshire, were ordered to pay confiscation orders totaling more than £500,000. The men were arrested following North Yorkshire Police’s ‘Operation Harpoon’ launched in 2004. It uncovered a large-scale cannabis production plant within agricultural premises at Upton, which police drugs experts believed was capable of producing cannabis worth in excess of £2,600,000 annually. Following the convictions, a detailed financial investigation was carried out by North Yorkshire Police in conjunction with the North East Regional Asset Recovery Team (RART). All of the men’s assets - to the value of more than £526,000 - have been traced and will be confiscated. Detective Inspector Adam Harland, Head of North Yorkshire Police’s Financial Investigation Unit, said: “We used the specialist skills of the North East RART to identify assets hidden in foreign registered companies and within fake businesses in Yorkshire. Taking advantage of those skills means that these men will not have benefited from drug crimes. Where their previous life involved expensive houses, exotic holidays and luxury cars, now they will come out of prison to nothing.”

On 11 February 2008 at Caernarfon Crown Court, North Wales, a Moroccan man was ordered to repay £118,599 within six months or face a three year sentence in default. This followed an earlier hearing at Mold Crown Court on 2 November 2007 against the man’s brother who was ordered to repay £103,737 arising from the same incident. They were both arrested in March 2007 at Holyhead Port having entered the UK from Dublin. Both brothers who were resident in Mitcham, Surrey were found to be in possession of approximately €350,000 euros wrapped in packing tape and concealed within their vehicle which they claimed to have collected from an unknown person at a Dublin port hotel. Both brothers had previously been sentenced to terms of imprisonment.

On 21 January 2008 at Southwark Crown Court the Fraud Prosecution Service were successful in securing a benefit figure of £161,403 against a man who had been convicted of six offences of handling stolen motor cars, and asked for 20 offences to be taken into consideration. The Police Financial Investigation Officer discovered that there was some £74, 000 of unexplained funds passing through the defendant’s bank account within the six years preceding his offences, together with £8,000 of unexplained Western Union transfers. The value of the stolen cars passing through his hands was assessed as approximately £79,000. At the confiscation hearing the defendant gave evidence to the effect that he had made his money legitimately from car dealing and as a mechanic, dealing in cash. He said he had no funds left, therefore he was asking the court to assess his benefit as only £79,000 and the realisable sum as a nominal amount. The Judge stated that the defendant had failed to discharge the burden of proof upon him to show that the realisable amount was less than the benefit; therefore the realisable amount would be the same as the benefit amount. The defence did not ask for time to pay, therefore the amount was due forthwith and if not paid a default sentence of two years and three months would be imposed.

On 14 January 2008 at Bradford Crown Court the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) successfully prosecuted a man for illegally selling medicines over the internet. He was fined £60,000, given a confiscation order for £24,956 and ordered to pay costs of £12,598 or face 18 months in prison in default. The MHRA investigation began in March 2005, when a test purchase was made over the internet.In April 2005 the defendant’s premises were inspected and large volumes of unlicensed medicines were seized.

On 22 January 2008 a Cash Forfeiture Order was obtained at Holyhead Magistrates Court in respect of €27,000 euros and £1,200 sterling (approx £20,000 converted). This followed a routine stop and search at Holyhead port of inbound vehicles and passengers from Dublin. Whilst speaking to the driver of a vehicle transporter, the officers found two passengers lying flat inside a vehicle being carried on the rear. A subsequent search of the occupants and vehicles resulted in the seizure of the cash from various locations. The respondents who were a British man and a Brazilian woman claimed to be travelling to Euro Disney before going on to Switzerland for a skiing holiday. They claimed to be travelling in this manner as there was no room within the cab. The account was not believed and enquiries revealed that the man had numerous convictions for theft of motor vehicles and drug trafficking. A subsequent application for forfeiture of the money was uncontested.

BexleyNewsShopper online reported that a shopkeeper has been ordered to hand over £40,000 or face an extra 17 months in prison following his conviction for conspiracy to steal from a soft drinks company. Seven fellow conspirators were also ordered to pay back £11,460 between them.

LiverpoolEcho online reported that a Liverpool businessman has been ordered to payback £373,316. He was jailed for three and a half years in 2007 for breaching several immigration laws by employing Libyan relatives and friends when they were not entitled to work in Britain.

The European Serious Organised Crime Conference will be held at the Arena and Convention Centre, Liverpool on 4-6 March 2008. For further details visit www.neilstewartassociates.com

The second annual conference of the Eastern Fraud Forum - entitled "The Fraudster You Know" - is taking place at the Radisson SAS Hotel London Stansted Airport on 13 March 2008. Full details are available at www.easternfraudforum.co.uk, or on 01603 680966.

The Southern Regional ‘Payback’ Financial Crime Conference will take place on Wednesday 19 March 2008 at the Park Inn Hotel and Blue Conference Centre, Heathrow, Middlesex. The one day event will cost £95 + VAT for Public Sector delegates and £190 + VAT for Private Sector delegates. Places are limited so please contact conferences@ara.gsi.gov.uk for further information and to request a booking form.

This newsletter is produced on behalf of the assets recovery community of organisations by the Assets Recovery Agency and is distributed by the Government News Network News Distribution Service. If you have items of news for inclusion in a future edition, have suggestions for improvements, would like to be removed from the distribution list or know of anyone who would like to be added to it, please contact poca.update@ara.gsi.gov.uk