Clause 6 - Making of order
Proceeds of Crime Bill
8:55 am
Mr Dominic Grieve (Beaconsfield, Conservative)
Indeed we did.
The Government are again showing clear signs that they do not trust the judiciary to be able to make reasoned judgments.
Without the amendments, and certainly without amendment No. 8, the prosecutor will be able to tell the court what to do. That is inherent in subsection (3)(a). Moreover, the director of the Assets Recovery Agency will be able to tell the court what to do. I find that aspect even more troubling, because the prosecutor has always had an independent role in trying to ensure that justice is achieved. Those of us who have practised as criminal prosecutors will know that that sometimes means saying to those who have instructed us—again, I am sure that the same applies in Scotland—that we are not prepared to take a certain course of action even though the prosecuting authority might wish us to do so. Under the Bill, action can be taken not only at the prosecutor's but at the director's discretion. In truth, it is being turned into a confiscatory administrative mechanism, wholly controlled by the director of the Assets Recovery Agency. That should be a source of concern to those who wish asset recovery to be an instrument of justice and not of oppression.
That lack of discretion brings me back to the speech that I intended to make—and I shall still make it, notwithstanding the comments of the Minister of State. I contrast that lack of discretion with the fact that the Government appear to be content with the drafting of the Scottish clauses in part 3.