Criminals Choosing Jail Rather than Pay Confiscation Orders

This following news story appeared on www.parliament.uk  on Friday 21 March – pretty shocking!

The Public Accounts Committee has published its report on confiscation orders which finds that criminals are choosing jail instead of paying up to £490 million in confiscation orders.

The Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MP, Chair of the Committee of Public Accounts, said:

"Crime should not pay, but we found too many criminals who are subject to an order to confiscate the proceeds of crime choosing to spend extra time in prison rather than paying up.

“£490 million is owed by criminals who have served or are serving more time in prison for non-payment. This suggests these sentences provide little deterrence and that the sanctions are not working and need toughening up.

“The idea behind confiscation orders is to hit criminals where it hurts – in their pockets – so that serious and organised criminals do not profit from the misery of others. However, poor implementation has meant not enough confiscation orders are being made and not enough is being done to enforce them once they have been made.  “We found that:

• In 2012-13 the authorities, through confiscation orders, collected only 26 pence in every £100 of criminal proceeds generated in that year;
• Very few confiscation orders are sought and made. In 2012-13, nearly 680,000 offenders were convicted of a crime, many of which had a financial element, yet only 6,392 confiscation orders were set; and
• Departments spent £100 million administering confiscation orders, yet confiscated a meagre £133 million.

“Assets held by the big time criminals were frozen too late. This allowed criminals to salt away valuable assets, putting them in the hands of spouses, using complex financial instruments, buying houses and expensive cars and hiding them overseas.

“Too often the small time criminal is pursued whilst the big time criminals get away. Ninety per cent of orders of less than £1,000 are enforced whereas only 18% of orders for over £1 million are enforced.

“All this shows what a shambles exists and how poor the performance of all the agencies involved is. It is unclear who is responsible and accountable for what.”

Read the rest at Parliament.uk http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/public-accounts-committee/news/confiscation-orders-report-publication-sub/

Report: Confiscation orders (PDF) http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmselect/cmpubacc/942/942.pdf