Clause 75 - Criminal lifestyle
Proceeds of Crime Bill
10:30 am
Mr Dominic Grieve (Beaconsfield, Conservative)
It has been acknowledged in previous discussions that this is a key clause in respect of the workings of the confiscation provisions. I shall obey your strictures, Mr. McWilliam, not to stray into a discussion about the desirability of the term ''criminal lifestyle''. We may even come up with a better term, but the detail of what constitutes such a lifestyle will be critical in respect of how the Bill works, whether unfairness may creep in, and whether the measure will cover the offences that most people expect it to or whether it will be widened to catch those who commit offences that most people may consider do not fall within the category of a criminal lifestyle.
It may be helpful if I run through the amendments tabled by the official Opposition. Amendment No. 270 would leave out subsection (2)(c), which refers to such offences that may be
''specified in regulations under this section by the Secretary of State''.
Amendment No. 271 would introduce the same restriction that we discussed last week about whether certain minor offences—those not punishable by imprisonment, but by a level 1 fine on the standard scale—should fall within the offences that constitute a criminal lifestyle. Amendment No. 272 is consequential and relates to clause 76.
I shall explain first amendment No. 270. The Bill defines what type of offence constitutes a criminal lifestyle. For the most part, the offences listed do not fully encapsulate the intention of the legislation. Subsection (2)(a) deals with drug trafficking offences. Subsection (2)(b) refers to money laundering offences. Subsection (2)(d) deals with
''conduct forming part of a course of criminal activity''.
Subsection (2)(e) concerns
''an offence committed over a period of at least six months''.
For the moment, we will leave aside the question whether paragraphs (d) and (e) are too widely drawn, in that they are capable of targeting offences that were not committed for gain. I am aware that such offences constitute one of the trigger provisions that bring people within the criminal lifestyle definition.
We are anxious about the provisions that might be specified in regulations made by the Secretary of State. The Minister has been helpful. He sent me a list—I am sure that other members of the Committee have received a copy—with examples of criminal conduct that the Government consider to be indicative of a criminal lifestyle. He has already set out along the path of defining the areas that the Government might deem necessary to regulate by statutory instrument.
Many of the offences listed are already covered under paragraphs (a), (b), (d) and (e), and do not require any further definition under paragraph (c). To demonstrate that, it may be helpful if I cite some examples from the list, which includes
''people trafficking, in the sense primarily of trafficking for sexual exploitation''.
Although it does not fall within paragraphs (a) and (b), the offence, by its nature, will be part of a course of criminal activity and would have been committed over a period of at least six months. The same would be true in the case of
''facilitation of immigration offences (including illegal working)''
''forgery of travel and other immigration-related documents''.
The list also refers to
''conspiracy to defraud the Crown (e.g. benefits, taxations, grants, etc),
to arms trafficking and to
''involvement in counterfeit currency and counterfeit goods''.