ARA will seize proceeds of crime

27 Feb 03
A former local authority chief executive this week started work as the UK's newest crimebuster. Powers came into force on February 25 which allow Jane Earl to go after the assets of criminals as director of the Assets Recovery Agency. In a statement,

28 February 2003

A former local authority chief executive this week started work as the UK's newest crimebuster. Powers came into force on February 25 which allow Jane Earl to go after the assets of criminals as director of the Assets Recovery Agency.

In a statement, Earl, who headed the unitary authority at Wokingham, said: 'I feel a passion for getting the bad guys out of the picture. It is the outcome of the activity as much as the activity itself that gets me very agitated. It's the way that [organised criminals] prey on human misery that's completely unacceptable.'

She said that anyone who had 'a large house and five places in the Caribbean, with no visible means of support, no rich aunties who have recently died leaving the odd £5m and no successful lottery tickets' could have to explain how they came to own these assets.

The Labour manifesto at the last election said the government would seize £60m a year from criminals by 2004/05. The agency will support criminal prosecutions where these are appropriate, a spokesman said. It will also have powers to ask a judge to decide on the civil 'balance of probabilities' rule that someone has a criminal lifestyle with assets liable to confiscation. The person concerned could challenge this, but would have to prove that their assets were legally owned.

PFfeb2003

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