Clause 29 - Defendant neither convicted nor acquitted
Proceeds of Crime Bill
6:15 pm
Mr Dominic Grieve (Beaconsfield, Conservative)
The civil recovery procedure may create problems in relation to legal proceedings being brought against an absentee. In my opinion, it is perfectly possible to cure that by amending the procedure. In my experience, civil proceedings can be brought against someone who has absconded by serving notice at their last known address in this country. There are a number of other provisions that can be used if necessary, but we should not get away from the underlying principle.
The confiscation regime has now been greatly strengthened—we supported that in principle—for the purpose of targeting assets linked to crime over a specified period, and those resulting from a criminal lifestyle. However, it depends on someone having a criminal lifestyle and the building blocks that lead up to it. If those blocks are not there because a person has not been convicted, should we use the procedure against that person?