Clause 78 - Gifts and their recipients
Proceeds of Crime Bill
5:30 pm
Mr Ian Davidson (Glasgow Pollok, Labour/Co-operative)
The hon. Member for Beaconsfield spoke movingly about the problems faced by those who hand over £1 million of shares to members of their family. That is a dilemma that many of us have mercifully been spared. However, I am prepared to accept that the Conservatives live in another world. The amount of time that they have spent on this matter shows that they recognise that many of their people are likely to be affected.
May I spell out the effects of what has already been described as a Grieve but can also be described as doing a Dominic? If one does a Dominic, one gets £1 million, makes a bad business decision and loses £750,000 in value, so only £250,000 is left. There seems to be a suggestion that, in some way, that might be written off, and the criminal would not be responsible for repaying the full £1 million. The hon. Member for Beaconsfield seemed to be singularly exercised by that, and we should clarify whether he is more concerned about the victims of the crime in the initial instance or about the loss of value to those who committed the crime. It was especially noticeable that he chose to refer to Sotheby's, which, as I recall, is currently in court because of various crimes that it committed in conjunction with Christie's—market rigging and rigging of charges, if I remember correctly.
The hon. Gentleman and I move in disparate circles, so I am prepared to accept his word on such matters. I am reminded of the words of Woody Guthrie:
''Now as through this world I ramble
I see lots of funny men,
Some will rob you with a six-gun
And some with a fountain pen.''
The loss of value has a great deal to do with the value that people put on a particular good. As I understand it, the whole business of the Cities of London and Westminster is based on selling people things that are only worth what the person buying them thinks that they are worth, in order to turn a profit, so once we start unscrambling the question of knowledge at the time of purchaser's sale—