Criminal confiscations fund received over £62 million since 2004

Sunday 26 November 2017

The Criminal Offences Confiscations Fund has received a total of £62.87 million since its creation in 2004, the majority of which subject is to sharing agreements with other jurisdictions.

Figures released following a request under the Freedom of Information (FOI) law showed that the current balance of the fund is over £8 million, with £6.5 million likely to be allocated to work at La Moye Prison.

The largest ever payment made into the fund was of over £26 million in the prosecution against Raj Arjandas Bhojwani, a Nigerian multimillionaire businessman, who was convicted by the Royal Court on three counts of money laundering.

Over £43 million paid into the fund were subject to asset sharing agreements with other jurisdictions. Likewise, Jersey received money from confiscations made in other places, such as when $3.5million dollars of seized drug money were paid to the fund, following a 15 year investigation into Paul Hindelang's crimes in conjunction with US authorities.

Pictured: Jersey's Attorney General traveled to the US earlier this year to sign an agreement with the US authorities over the sharing of Hindelang's criminal proceeds.

Jersey's Attorney General, Robert MacRae, commented on the figures, saying they demonstrate "...Jersey’s commitment to fighting financial crime and the effectiveness of Jersey’s anti money laundering and mutual legal assistance laws."

He added: "The results often follow years of painstaking work with law enforcement agencies from around the world, and show the determination of Jersey and the international law enforcement agencies to bring to these cases to a successful conclusion. The sums confiscated compare favourably to similar sized and indeed many larger jurisdictions.”

“Although the sum confiscated and paid in to the COCF is £59m, Jersey has played a role in the repatriation of well over a billion Euros in the last ten years, as was demonstrated in the Riva case earlier this year. These cases serve to highlight the close collaboration of the Jersey authorities with international law enforcement agencies, Jersey’s staunch commitment to fighting financial crime and that no matter what structure is used, Jersey is no place to hide the proceeds of crime.”

While £6.5 million currently sitting in the fund could go to La Moye next year, a number of projects have been financed through grants taken from the fund. Over £32.2 million have been used over the past 10 years, a majority of it to fund court and case costs as well as law revision. £1.2 million went to the Magistrate's Court to cover building and staff costs.

£14.78 million also went to the new police station while several investments were made into the Home Affairs Department. £460,000 helped upgrade CCTV, £117,849 was spent on body-worn cameras and forensics software.