CRIME'S MR BIGS TO HAVE HOMES AND CASH SEIZED

PROPERTY and cash enjoyed by criminals will be confiscated without the
need for a criminal conviction under legal changes recommended
yesterday by a Government working party.

A proposed major extension of "civil forfeiture", currently used only
when suspected illicit cash is seized at borders, could lead to
confiscation of hundreds of millions of pounds worth of assets from
drug traffickers and criminals who escape prosecution through lack of
evidence. At the moment, UKP10 million of assets are confiscated by
courts in England and Wales each year from criminals, a tiny fraction
of the annual turnover of the illegal drug trade which is estimated at
up to UKP10 billion.

A smaller amount of cash crossing borders is also held. The Home
Office working group on confiscation urges a range of measures to
strengthen the current law on confiscation of assets from convicted
criminals. It also calls for consideration of a national agency to
handle confiscation and a new criminal offence to cover failure to
disclose knowledge or suspicion of money laundering.

But the most radical of its recommendations - which are likely to lead
to Government legislation, possibly in the year 2000 - will widen the
scope of civil forfeiture and lower the standard of proof needed to
persuade the courts to deprive criminals of their illicit houses,
cars, yachts, jewellery and cash. The introduction of the proposed
legislation would place Britain alongside only Ireland and America
among Western democracies which permit the removal of assets from
suspected criminals without the need to prove a criminal offence.

Kate Hoey, Home Office junior minister, said: "We do broadly feel that
these are ideas that we can put into practice. We will really put the
criminal on the run."

The acceptance by the Government of the broad thrust of the
recommendations is a reflection of lobbying by senior police officers
for a new law to make it easier to tackle the "Mr Bigs" who control
drug-related and other crime but distance themselves from direct
participation. The success of America's Racketeer-Influenced and
Corrupt Organisations laws is thought to rely on evidence from tapping
criminals' telephones. Such evidence is inadmissible in British courts
and there are no plans to change the phone tap law.

Jack Straw, the Home Secretary, said: "Present arrangements are not
working as well as they should. For every rich criminal, from pimps to
drug barons, there is a victim who has suffered. Villains should pay
the price from their own pocket."

John Abbott, the director general of the National Criminal
Intelligence Service, said: "It cannot be right that the victims of
crime continue to suffer while the criminals continue to enjoy a life
of Riley."

Checked-by: Patrick Henry