Ministers should use the overseas aid budget to pay countries which help Britain recover illegal profits hidden abroad by crime bosses, a leading security think tank said today.
The Royal United Services Institute said aid money could pay to improve the “technical and legislative ability” of nations to seize assets on Britain’s behalf. It also called for more asset-sharing agreements — in which countries receive part of the cash they seize from British criminals — as a further incentive to cooperation.
The recommendations are among several proposals by the think tank in a report on the effectiveness of efforts to enforce confiscation orders against some of Britain’s most serious offenders.
Other proposals include a “public database” of unpaid orders, an assessment of the use of private sector enforcement receivers and the writing off of “uncollectable” debts.
The report recommends the permanent use of recently introduced “asset confiscation enforcement” teams, in which financial investigators from the Crown Prosecution Service, the courts and other public bodies join forces to target offenders. It says the tactic brought in £12 million in eight months.
Today’s proposals come amid continuing political concern about the ability of “Mr Bigs” to avoid repaying illicit gains after reports by the National Audit Office and the Commons Public Accounts Committee revealed unpaid debts of more than £1 billion.
The Evening Standard has also highlighted the way in which major offenders are holding on to their profits and the Commons Home Affairs Committee has announced a parliamentary inquiry.
This week’s report, The Big Payback, says measures introduced last year in the Serious Crime Act — giving courts power to impose travel bans and other sanctions on offenders — should help bring in more cash.
Helena Wood, the report’s author, said: “Criminals are moving their assets to countries outside the diplomatic reach of the UK, or to areas where the local technical and legislative ability to trace and seize assets is more limited.
“The UK should extend its programme of overseas technical assistance to include a specified set of priority countries. Consideration should be given to meeting the cost of this from the Government’s overseas aid budget.”
She said asset-sharing agreements, which exist with countries including the US, Canada and Jamaica, should be used more widely. She added that the success rate in seizing assets can be improved: “There has been strong progress in recent years, yet the reform process is by no means complete.”
