LONDON (Within The Law) - The National Crime Agency is going after unexplained wealth in a bid to crackdown on untouchable organised criminals.
Dubbed Britain’s FBI, the National Crime Agency has revealed its asset denial unit is building dozens of cases designed to ‘cut the head off the hydra of organised crime’. The Unit’s Andy Lewis said it was targeting people smugglers and COVID 19 fraudsters for the recovery of assets with so-called McMafia orders.
These unexplained wealth orders empower the NCA to seize any wealth which can’t be explained by anything other than organised crime. They came into force in 2018 after the BBC drama covering the so-called untouchables of organised crime.
The orders allow the NCA to freeze someone’s assets if they believe the owner is a politically exposed person and they cannot explain the source of their wealth.
Speaking to the Daily Mail he said:
“That could be against people-smuggling gangs, and could be against fraudsters, against anybody where we have reasonable grounds to suspect the property they have purchased has been derived from unlawful conduct.”
The orders were introduced to stem the flow of cash into organised criminal gangs and corrupt officials and have been used in a number of high profile cases including Mansoor Hussein a businessman suspected of laundering money for drugs gangs who had £10million in assets seized. They allow the NCA to take action in cases where criminal cases may not be viable. Instead, orders will be made requiring individuals to explain how they obtained wealth.
He says the NCA is expanding their use and looking at ‘tens of cases’ including a growing number covering people smuggling.
The NCA has recorded an explosion of people traffic gangs bringing people in the UK in recent times with more than 8,000 migrants thought to have crossed the Channel this year.
They may also use the orders against fraudsters taking advantage of the government’s bounce back loans in cases where it would be difficult to achieve a criminal conviction. However, it has not always been plain sailing and even the NCA admit they’re of limited effectiveness.
Earlier in the year, the NCA failed in its appeal against a ruling demanding former Kazakhstan President Nurali Aliyev and his mother Dariga Nazarbayeva explain their wealth. A high court judge rejected the agency’s orders on £80 million of properties owned in London forcing them to settle with the pair.
Internally, the agency is said to be divided about the value of going after corrupt businessmen with access to the best legal assistance money can buy. However, despite the set back he insists the NCA are still pressing ahead with their orders against politically exposed people.
(Written by Tom Cropper, Edited by Klaudia Fior)