The 43-point action plan, announced by the Home Office and HM Treasury last week, includes reviewing the Law Commission’s recommendations on corporate criminal liability and introducing any accepted changes, including legislation on the identification doctrine and a failure to prevent fraud offence.
On disclosure, the government will look again at making the process more manageable in the digital age, exploring options for legislative reform. It will also explore ways for suspected illicit funds held in suspense accounts to be used in tackling economic crime, and to enable more recovered criminal assets including through the Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme, to be reinvested in tackling crime.
An additional 475 financial crime investigators will be recruited across intelligence, enforcement and asset recovery agencies, with the aim of tackling money laundering and recovering an extra £1bn in criminal assets in the next 10 years. The National Crime Agency’s combatting kleptocracy cell will be expanded; £100m will be invested in technology, including data analytics; and a multi-agency crypto cell will be created to tackle illicit crypto assets.
Alun Milford, criminal litigation partner at Kingsley Napley, said: ‘The emphasis seems to be on gathering intelligence and training investigators. But it is not clear how those new investigators will use the improved intelligence picture they will be given.
‘Is it intended that they be used to disrupt fraudsters by, for example, bringing civil recovery investigations with the aim of forfeiting assets or are they to be encouraged to bring criminal justice investigations with a view to bringing prosecutions? If the former, that is a mistake: a regime of disruption and civil recovery will not secure public confidence. If the latter, then money should also be set aside for prosecutors and the courts.’
Welcoming the plan, Law Society president Lubna Shuja said: “We note the importance of the government’s focus on tackling illicit finance in the UK.
‘The profession invests significant resources in tackling money laundering and financial crime. We look forward to continuing our work with the government to deliver the plan through a new approach to public-private prioritisation. This includes joint priorities to maximise public and private resources to prevent, detect and disrupt economic crime, as well as the ambitious reform of the UK’s supervisory regime.
‘Encouraging greater information and intelligence sharing will also help to better identify and target criminality to ensure that the UK is a hostile place for illicit finance.’
More than £12bn of criminal cash is generated annually in the UK each year, while hundreds of billions of pounds of laundered money are believed to pass through UK corporate structures of financial institutions each year, according to National Crime agency (NCA) estimates.
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