Proceeds of Crime Bill
9:15 am
Mr Dominic Grieve (Beaconsfield, Conservative)
I understand the Minister's point, but he has failed to respond to ours-although I am unsure whether that was deliberate. Therefore I will briefly spell out the difference between the old and the new regimes.
Paragraph 4 of the explanatory notes to the Bill contains a definition of the existing regime:-
``Confiscation orders are available following a conviction. The purpose of confiscation proceedings is to recover the financial benefit that the offender has obtained from his criminal conduct. The court calculates the value of that benefit and orders the offender to pay an equivalent sum . . . Proceedings are conducted according to the civil standard of proof, i.e. on the balance of probabilities. In certain circumstances the court is empowered to assume that the defendant's assets, and his income and expenditure from any time after six years before proceedings were brought, have been derived from criminal conduct and to calculate the confiscation order accordingly.''
Therefore, the existing regime is ultimately controlled by the nature of the offence for which a person has been convicted. I do not think that the Minister will disagree with that, but, if I have got it wrong, I hope that he will correct me-[Interruption.]