Clause 19 - Seized evidence
Crime (International Co-operation) Bill [Lords]
11:00 am
Mr David Heath (Somerton and Frome, Liberal Democrat)
I want to pursue an issue that I attempted to raise earlier. I am trying to ensure that subsection (3) does not introduce any difficulty. An international joint investigation team may investigate offences in this country or under another jurisdiction. There is no problem if, for the purposes of its investigation, the team seeks a search warrant and seizes material that is to be used in proceedings in this country. If it seizes material to be used under another jurisdiction, would the court in that jurisdiction have to make a new request to enable the material collected by the joint investigation team to be transmitted to that court? In what circumstances could the team use evidence in an investigation into a matter that was already the subject of proceedings under another jurisdiction? Will the disclaimer in subsection (3) prove to be an obstacle to using what common sense
dictates: that once a team has a search warrant, and goes in and finds the evidence, it should be able to use it in the proceedings for which it was gathered? I do not know the answer, but the subsection appears to introduce an unnecessary obstacle. I do, of course, understand that the joint investigation team would be the requesting authority in an investigation alone. I am simply trying to ensure that the evidence is available for proceedings subsequent to that investigation.