Law

Successes and Failures of Proceeds of Crime Approaches

3 October 2014, University of Manchester

The first workshop in the Dirty Assets series was ideally timed, following reports from the National Audit Office (December 2013) and the Public Accounts Committee (March 2014), both of which were critical of the confiscation regime.

This workshop brought together policymakers, practitioners and researchers to discuss the impact of the legal responses to ‘dirty assets’. Discussions centred on a number of key issues, including:

  • How do we measure the success of the responsive regime?
  • What the main difficulties and/or opportunities in institutional or operational forms facing law enforcement agencies when putting into place an anti-assets strategy?
  • How should recovered assets be disposed of?
  • How does terrorist financing affect informal means of money transfer?
  • How can terrorism financing be choked without damaging legitimate charitable and humanitarian objectives?

Enriched by a decade of experience from the enactment of the Proceeds of Crime Act and the equivalents against terrorism financing, this network offered an important forum to take stock and consider these questions in light of experiences over the past decade. It equally offered the ideal setting to consider future policy and research directions, informed by the needs of policymakers and practitioners.

Speakers

Podcasts and powerpoints are available below.

Panel 1: Asset Recovery: An Appraisal
Panel 2: Asset Recovery: Seizure and Disposal of Assets

Panel 3: Money Laundering: Policing and Regulation 

  • Ian Davidson, National Coordinator - Regional Asset Recovery Teams - Powerpoint [PPTX 152.73KB], Podcast
  • Professor Valsamis Mitsilegas, Queen Mary University of London - Podcast
  • Chair: Katie Benson, University of Manchester 
Panel 4: Terrorist Financing: Perspectives on Informal Finance and Charities