The search for ill-gotten gains

By Zoe Gough BBC News, Birmingham

The assets law aims to make crime less attractive

It was trumpeted as a groundbreaking way to go after the billions of pounds made from criminal activity each year.

Established and given its powers by the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA), the ARA was going to get tough on criminals by seizing their assets with or without a conviction.

Yet in the last financial year with 180 workers and a budget of £15.5m, just £4.6m went back into its coffers.

Its chiefs say their main objective is reducing organised crime, not making a profit.

Adrian Brenton, director of operations at the ARA, said: "We are no different to any newly formed business in its start-up period. Some things take longer than planned whilst others progress more quickly.

Confiscation order

"It was always anticipated that in our early years we would 'cost' more than we collected which is why our target was to 'break-even' by the end of our third year of operation."

CRIMINAL CIVIL RECOVERY Confiscation Dealt with on conviction Offences committed after 24 March 2003 Assess benefit derived from crime Assess the assets available to offender to repay the government Civil recovery Referred by law enforcers/prosecutors to the ARA Criminal prosecution failed/proved impossible Recoverable property identified of at least £5,000 Evidence of criminal conduct

But of the cases completed since the POCA, some show gaping holes between the amount an individual benefited from crime and the value of what is taken from them, which could have made a difference to ARA's figures.

Under the act the ARA, police and other agencies can follow up a conviction by persuading the courts the defendants are living on money made from crime.

A confiscation order is then made for cash, cars or houses with refusal punishable by prison.

Proceeds from crime

In March £150,000 was taken from nine members of a drugs gang who had benefited from their crimes by more than £4m.

Without a conviction the ARA can recover property made through crime in the High Court where the individual must prove the assets are legitimate.

In this way the ARA took £3.6m from Liverpool man Curtis Warren, currently held in a Dutch jail for drug related offences.

However Warren is estimated by the BBC's Underworld Rich List programme to be worth about £80m.

It can take up to two-and-a-half years to uncover assets

Regional Asset Recovery Teams (RARTs) are one of the other agencies which can assist ARA in the pursuit of illegal gains.

Det Ch Insp Gennaro Varriale, head of the West Midlands RART, believes his team has only been able to get their hands on 20 to 25% of defendants' proceeds from crime.

"That infers criminals are spending 75% on lifestyle which is probably about right," he said.

"I think we've identified £89m worth of criminal benefit and identified something like £19m worth of realisable (still available) assets, although that figure may not be the final one."

As well as spending, Mr Varriale cites the criminals known adeptness at hiding their assets or getting others to hold them as a way of restricting what can be recovered.

As and when he (Curtis Warren) gets out there will be people looking to see what he is doing, whether or not he is living an extravagant lifestyle Adrian Brenton, ARA

Order is for life

Orders can be made to recover hidden assets if they can be proved to exist.

But Mr Brenton says with a criminal economy worth between £9bn to £19bn a year his agency would need the resources of the entire civil service to compete with all of the sophisticated criminals who employ lawyers and accountants.

He describes the ability to move assets all over the world as a "major barrier", saying the ARA might recover more in 20% of its cases if it could investigate unhindered through the international civil courts.

Both men admit there is no evidence to yet link crime reduction with assets recovery, but say their functions are deterring both criminals, who have plea bargained rather than lose property, and would-be offenders, who lose respect for local criminals stripped of their expensive trappings.

As to the future, one financial investigator from the National Crime Squad says once a figure is put on an individual's benefit from crime the agencies can seek more seizures as more assets come to light.

Asked if Curtis Warren will return to the rest of his fortune on release from prison, Mr Brenton said: "That may well be the truth, but as and when he gets out there will be people looking to see what he is doing, whether or not he is living an extravagant lifestyle in relation to his money."

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