Clause 76 - Conduct and benefit
Proceeds of Crime Bill
12:30 pm
Mr Norman Baker (Lewes, Liberal Democrat)
I beg to move amendment No. 281, in page 47, line 40, leave out from 'conduct' to end of line 2 on page 48.
I shall be brief, as we have just had rather a long discussion. The amendment is to some extent related to the previous clause, although, rightly, it has been grouped separately. Its purpose is to ensure that the Government put on the record a statement of their policy on retrospectivity in this legislation.
Many of us are concerned when retrospective provisions are inserted in any legislation. That is not a process that many of us like to see, and there has to be a very good reason for it, as is well set out in law. It is a principle of basic justice that a person should not be convicted of an offence if, when the offence was committed, it was not a criminal offence, or if the penalties applicable for that offence at the time were different from those that applied subsequently because of retrospective legislation.