Clause 76 - Conduct and benefit
Proceeds of Crime Bill
12:30 pm
Mr Norman Baker (Lewes, Liberal Democrat)
I shall respond—briefly, Mr. McWilliam, as I notice the flick of your eyebrows. Suffice it to say that I have numerous and lengthy conversations with my hon. Friend the Member for Southwark, North and Bermondsey, normally at very unsocial hours such as 3 o'clock in the morning—although that is an exaggeration. He has discussed the European arrest warrant with me, and we have concerns about retrospectivity in that context, as we do in relation to this Bill, and as a general matter of principle if an activity is subsequently criminalised when previously it was legal, or if the penalties for a particular offence were previously relatively minor but a swathe of hard-hitting legislation—I shall not use the word ''draconian'', which is pejorative—has suddenly been introduced.
For instance, the Bill shifts the burden of proof on to the person accused of criminal activity or of benefiting from the proceeds of crime. It will require the person accused to prove that possessions have been legally obtained and are not the proceeds of crime. That person will therefore have to produce tax returns and bank statements going back quite a long way. Earlier, the Minister spoke against an amendment that I tabled to limit that process to six years, and against the idea that the prosecution should bear the onus of proof when events are more than six years ago. Despite the fact that hard-hitting measures have been agreed
earlier in the Bill, the Minister should at least give a full explanation of why such general retrospectivity needs to be included in the Bill.