Stripped of Cash - The Proceeds of Crime Act Reaps Rewards
15 Jun 2006
Since the Proceeds of Crime Act came into effect in 2003, some £234 million has been seized and police continue to reap the rewards. This year police in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will have a share of £26 million of total assets seized last year to fight crime.
Mr Coaker, Home Office Minister for Financial Crime, said:
"This is a tremendous achievement and I am grateful to the police and their partners for their hard work. Confiscating criminal assets is an integral part of our drive to cut crime and deliver justice.
"The sum announced today vindicates the powers we introduced three years ago under the Proceeds of Crime Act. We have taken almost £250 million from criminals in the last three years. A share of that sum has gone back into frontline policing, including financial investigation.
"This is a double-win for the police. The money seized from criminals hampers illegal activity while a large part of it is ploughed back into police operations. Police will be able to spend this money on their local priorities."
Also announced today is a new incentive scheme for 2006-07 that will allow recovery agencies to retain half of what they recover. This is in order to encourage agencies to recover more criminal assets.
Further, for the first time the Serious Organised Crime Agency will get a share of recovered criminal assets. It will receive £4.1 million of the £26 million available thanks to the efforts of one of its precursor agencies, the National Crime Squad.
Ken Jones, President of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said:
"The seizure of criminals' ill-gotten gains on this scale must be heartening to law abiding communities everywhere. The fact that cash is then ploughed back into local policing is equally reassuring. We are getting better at seizing stolen assets which is also bad news for criminals."