Confiscation and proceeds of crime
What happens to money and property after a conviction, and the orders that can be made before there has been one.
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What this covers
- Confiscation under the Proceeds of Crime Act
- Restraint orders, which can be made before any charge
- Cash seizure and forfeiture
- Account freezing and account forfeiture orders
- Third party interests, where a family member owns part of what is claimed
- Enforcement and default sentences
What actually happens
- Benefit and available amount
- Two separate figures. The benefit can be far larger than anything ever received; the available amount is what you actually have. The order is the lower of the two, which is why the second figure is worth fighting.
- Criminal lifestyle
- Certain convictions trigger assumptions that everything that passed through your hands for six years was criminal. The assumptions can be rebutted, but the burden is on you.
- Third parties
- A spouse or a parent who owns a share of a house is entitled to be heard. Their interest is lost if nobody raises it in time.
What Imran does about it
He takes the available amount and the third party interests, which is where the figure is actually decided, and resists restraint and freezing orders made before anyone has been charged.
Regulated by the Bar Standards Board. Authorised to accept Public Access instructions. Not authorised to conduct litigation.