Seizure powers disrupting organised crime

New powers to seize criminal gains are increasingly disruptive to serious organised crime, the Lord Advocate has said.

Recent changes to the law, and new powers coming into effect in January, are making it easier to seize money, assets and property from serious criminals, according to Lord Advocate James Wolffe QC, who told the Serious Organised Crime Taskforce this week that £3,650,000 has already been seized by the Crown’s Proceeds of Crime and Civil Recovery teams this year, nearly £1 million more than at the same time last year.

Law enforcement agencies will continue to pursue criminal assets, including assets which were not identified during the initial investigation. In the last three years over £400,000 has been seized from people who thought their case was over.

On Friday the court approved confiscation of £6,000, found at the home of Lindsay Dalgleish who was jailed in 2015 for two charges of supplying drugs. The money takes the Crown closer to recovering the £54,000 he was judged to have made through crime.

Recent changes to the law mean that restrictions – such as passport seizure, monthly repayment of criminal gains and a requirement to notify when a property is put up for sale – can now be imposed on criminals to ensure that assets are recovered.

From January new powers will mean money and assets that cannot be legitimately accounted for by individuals reasonably suspected of involvement in serious crime can be seized. If such an individual fails to explain where their wealth came from it will be assumed it came from proceeds of crime and the burden falls on them to prove otherwise.

Mr Wolffe said: “The principle underpinning our proceeds of crime laws is simple – criminals should not be allowed to profit from their crimes. Law enforcement agencies will take robust action to remove criminal profits from those who benefit from them.

“The powers we have to target criminal assets are important weapons in tackling criminality, including serious organised crime. Using these powers, we can disrupt the ability of criminal enterprises to generate profit, and so continue to function.”