Criminal Finances Act 2017
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 2017 c. 22 |
| Year | 2017 |
2017 CHAPTER 22
An Act to amend the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002; make provision in connection with terrorist property; create corporate offences for cases where a person associated with a body corporate or partnership facilitates the commission by another person of a tax evasion offence; and for connected purposes.
[27th April 2017]
B
e it enacted
by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
In Chapter 2 of Part 8 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (investigations: England and Wales and Northern Ireland), after section 362 insert—
Unexplained wealth orders
(362A)
Unexplained wealth orders
(1)
The High Court may, on an application made by an enforcement authority, make an unexplained wealth order in respect of any property if the court is satisfied that each of the requirements for the making of the order is fulfilled.
(2)
An application for an order must—
(a)
specify or describe the property in respect of which the order is sought, and
(b)
specify the person whom the enforcement authority thinks holds the property (“
the respondent
”) (and the person specified may include a person outside the United Kingdom).
(3)
An unexplained wealth order is an order requiring the respondent to provide a statement—
(a)
setting out the nature and extent of the respondent's interest in the property in respect of which the order is made,
(b)
explaining how the respondent obtained the property (including, in particular, how any costs incurred in obtaining it were met),
(c)
where the property is held by the trustees of a settlement, setting out such details of the settlement as may be specified in the order, and
(d)
setting out such other information in connection with the property as may be so specified.
(4)
The order must specify—
(a)
the form and manner in which the statement is to be given,
(b)
the person to whom it is to be given, and
(c)
the place at which it is to be given or, if it is to be given in writing, the address to which it is to be sent.
(5)
The order may, in connection with requiring the respondent to provide the statement mentioned in subsection (3), also require the respondent to produce documents of a kind specified or described in the order.
(6)
The respondent must comply with the requirements imposed by an unexplained wealth order within whatever period the court may specify (and different periods may be specified in relation to different requirements).
(7)
In this Chapter “
enforcement authority
” means—
(a)
the National Crime Agency,
(b)
Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs,
(c)
the Financial Conduct Authority,
(d)
the Director of the Serious Fraud Office, or
(e)
the Director of Public Prosecutions (in relation to England and Wales) or the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland (in relation to Northern Ireland).
(362B)
Requirements for making of unexplained wealth order
(1)
These are the requirements for the making of an unexplained wealth order in respect of any property.
(2)
The High Court must be satisfied that there is reasonable cause to believe that—
(a)
the respondent holds the property, and
(b)
the value of the property is greater than £50,000.
(3)
The High Court must be satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that the known sources of the respondent's lawfully obtained income would have been insufficient for the purposes of enabling the respondent to obtain the property.
(4)
The High Court must be satisfied that—
(a)
the respondent is a politically exposed person, or
(b)
there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that—
(i)
the respondent is, or has been, involved in serious crime (whether in a part of the United Kingdom or elsewhere), or
(ii)
a person connected with the respondent is, or has been, so involved.
(5)
It does not matter for the...
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