Policing and Crime Act 2009

Territorial Extent and Application

Part 5 – Proceeds of Crime

Confiscation

Section 51 Recovery of expenses etc:

279.Sections 48 and 50 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) provide for the appointment of management and enforcement receivers respectively. Management receivers manage property which is subject to a restraint order; enforcement receivers dispose of property to satisfy a confiscation order. Under section 55 of POCA, following the making of a confiscation order the remuneration and expenses of management and enforcement receivers, who are appointed by the courts in England and Wales, are payable from sums recovered in satisfaction of the confiscation order. Previously receivers from the Crown Prosecution Service and Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office were excluded from benefiting from these provisions by virtue of section 55(7) of POCA. Section 51 amends section 55 and enables members of staff of these organisations, along with accredited financial investigators and members of staff of other departments and public bodies specified in new subsection (8), to deduct their expenses from recovered sums when they are appointed as receivers. They may not deduct their remuneration costs, as these are already met from public funds.

280.Sections 196 and 198 of POCA make provision for the appointment of management and enforcement receivers in Northern Ireland. Section 51 amends section 203 of POCA to make similar provision for Northern Ireland as regards recovery of expenses as the amendments to section 55 do for England and Wales.

281.New section 55(10) provides that an accredited financial investigator under these provisions means one who falls within a description specified in an order made by the Secretary of State under section 453 of POCA.