Clause 10 - Available amount

Proceeds of Crime Bill – in a Public Bill Committee am 12:30 pm ar 20 Tachwedd 2001.

Danfonwch hysbysiad imi am ddadleuon fel hyn

Photo of Dominic Grieve Dominic Grieve Shadow Minister (Home Affairs) 12:30, 20 Tachwedd 2001

I beg to move amendment No. 32, in page 5, line 30, leave out paragraph (b) and insert—

`(b) to pay any sum which is a lawful and bone fide debt.'.

Photo of Roger Gale Roger Gale Vice-Chair, Conservative Party

With this, it will it will be convenient to discuss amendment No. 75, in page 5, line 33, leave out subsection (3).

Photo of Dominic Grieve Dominic Grieve Shadow Minister (Home Affairs)

I would like the Committee to think a little about the background purpose of what we intend to achieve and whether, in achieving it, we risk endangering innocent third parties excessively.

I have examined the wording of clause 10. I am sure that the Minister will tell me that it follows previous practice, but that does not mean that we should not examine it afresh. Clause 10 will provide that values are calculated, and thereafter the only deductions that can be made are fines and sums that would be included among preferential debts if the defendant had gone bankrupt. The consequence would be similar to a bankruptcy proceeding, and would have a similar effect on any creditor of a defendant whose assets were confiscated. Although I understand why bankruptcy is considered to be similar to the process on which we are embarking, the process is actually very different. A person goes bankrupt usually because he cannot pay his debts. Once that has happened, there is a system to try to ensure that certain creditors are preferential—they fall into quite a small category—and thereafter it is the law of the marketplace. If there is not enough money for everyone to be compensated, the main creditor who asked for the bankruptcy to take place takes precedence over the other creditors.

I am anxious about the process because these are not bankruptcy proceedings; the person does not have any debts but a public policy decision is taken, very properly, that an individual should be deprived of his assets because he cannot show that they were not illegally obtained. I should be interested to know what has happened in the past; if the process has been applied to earlier rules there are likely to have been innocent casualties.

The hon. Member for Glasgow, Pollok gave examples of individuals in his constituency leading a criminal lifestyle, which suggests that although they are living off benefits they have also been enjoying other assets and spending freely. Those are likely to be small-scale examples; because of the sub judice rules I cannot mention a case that especially springs to mind, as the person concerned is about to undergo trial. However, I can think of individuals leading a lavish lifestyle, who have very large properties and who have long been suspected of engaging in illegal conduct. Some seizure of assets might take place if those people had been convicted. In such circumstances, many individuals—small businesses, shopkeepers, and so on—who have provided them with goods and services may be awaiting payment, but as a result of the process they are not preferential creditors. If the vast majority, if not all, of the assets concerned are confiscated, perfectly legitimately, the shopkeepers and others will be the innocent victims of criminality and of the fact that the assets were originally obtained illegally or were the result of criminal conduct.

In such circumstances, and especially as we are in the process of extending the net to catch a much wider category of person, is it right to have a rule which says, in effect, ``You should have been more careful. You must assess whether a person is creditworthy. If, in spite of having a lavish lifestyle and huge assets, he is not creditworthy, because those are the result of criminal conduct, you have to suffer the consequences''? Is such a public policy decision the right approach, or should we consider that the matter is not akin to bankruptcy, where someone has to make a commercial assessment of a person's creditworthiness? If that assessment fails there will inevitably be victims.

In this case, we should be considering not whether the ordinary rules of bankruptcy should apply but whether there should be another set of rules to ensure that bona fide creditors receive compensation for the services or goods they have provided. Some services, once provided, no longer have a monetary value; goods in the defendant's possession may have a monetary value but they may be of considerably less value than the amount that was supposed to be paid for them. I simply flag up the issue, and I would be interested to hear the Minister's comments. If his aspirations are realised, we are about embark on a process that will lead to many such proceedings and applications. As a result of the lawful and justifiable steps that the state will take against them, it will also impel many people into bankruptcy.

Are we to say to the many victims, ``Sorry, this is one of life's commercial realities and you will have to face up to it. There is nothing we can do for you''? Or are we to say, ``You may not be a preferential creditor, but you are undoubtedly a bona fide creditor, so you should be paid out''? It is a public policy issue, and I fear that it might lead to considerable harshness. Where is the necessity in public policy terms to justify such harshness?

Finally, I may have misunderstood the Minister earlier, but I fail to grasp the connection between the amendment and salting away one's assets. I can see a vague connection. Under the clause, a defendant could claim that he owed money to individuals who are not bona fide creditors, which might make the court's task a little more complicated.

Photo of Dominic Grieve Dominic Grieve Shadow Minister (Home Affairs)

Why would it be so difficult for a court to extrapolate and identify bona fide creditors? To put it in its most straightforward fashion, if a local grocer down the road has supplied groceries and is owed £5,000—it could be the balance between his own bankruptcy and business failure, and survival—a person who was not a preferential creditor would surely be readily identifiable and readily assessable as completely innocent. In those circumstances, are we to say, ``We're terribly sorry, but all that money will have to come to the state. You won't see a penny, even though we have just collected £5 million''? I find that odd. Why does the Minister believe that it would be so difficult to make such an assessment?

I am asking only for an equitable system that has regard to the fact that the state, which is in receipt of the money, has never been in a creditor's position—except insofar as the circumstances relate to tax provisions later in the Bill. There I see no reason why ordinary tax rules should not apply. Otherwise, however, the state is taking money from someone on the grounds that it was obtained unlawfully. In those circumstances, why should the state be the preferential beneficiary, as against people who have become victims?

I asked the Minister earlier who the victims in this category were. I suspect that the direct victims are those for whom a compensation order has been ordered by the judge on conviction. It is an important issue, and just because no one has thought about it, or because that has been the practice in the past, it does not mean that we should not think about it today.

Photo of Norman Baker Norman Baker Shadow Spokesperson (Home Affairs) 12:45, 20 Tachwedd 2001

The hon. Gentleman has raised an important issue, to which I hope the Minister will respond. One of the Bill's underlying philosophies, which my colleagues and I support, is to catch criminals who have so far escaped justice—even if, as stated on Second Reading, they are the ``pillars of society''. We are talking about people who are respected and who appear to have committed no illegal activities, but people about whom there is evidence to disprove that. The Government want to ensure that such people are brought to justice or their assets seized. They are right to do so. Those people will not necessarily stand out as having a criminal lifestyle. The ordinary shopkeeper whom the hon. Member for Beaconsfield described, or the ordinary supplier of goods and services, may be caught up by these arrangements in a situation that is to their great disbenefit.

I am thinking of a case in my constituency that related to a different Bill, but it could equally apply here. A one-man builder secured a big contract for a seemingly respectable person. He then spent six to nine months on the job and got in subcontractors to help. The person went bankrupt, with the result that the builder went bankrupt too, owing the subcontractor lots of money. I would not want that situation to be repeated here unnecessarily. This is not about how much money is taken from the person who has illegally obtained proceeds from crime. The amount will stay the same. The question is what happens to it. It is wrong if innocent people such as small shopkeepers, one-man businesses or whatever will suffer as a consequence.

The Minister will tell us that there would be problems in saying who was a legitimate beneficiary and who had a legitimate contract with the person who was deemed to have the illegal proceeds of crime. I accept that. But we must find a way to protect ordinary people who can have no way of knowing that the person with whom they have an agreement has been involved in crime. They have entered a legitimate contract to provide something in return for money, yet before they know where they are, this person has been swept up in the criminal or civil proceedings and they cannot receive the money to which they are duly entitled. None of us wants to weaken the legislation and make it easier for someone to get off the hook or to keep money to which they are not entitled, but if we can find a way to ensure that innocent third parties do not suffer, that must be to the benefit of everyone.

Photo of Mr Nick Hawkins Mr Nick Hawkins Ceidwadwyr, Surrey Heath

I want to add to the excellent speeches of my hon. Friend the Member for Beaconsfield and the hon. Member for Lewes (Norman Baker). I share their concerns. I want to make a further point to emphasise why the amendment is wholly different from amendments about which Labour Members have been suspicious in the past. I doubt whether any of them will leap to their feet to suggest that we are trying to undermine the primary purpose of the Bill. We are clearly not talking about the defendants. We are trying to protect those who everyone accepts are wholly innocent people. They are innocent third parties such as the Lewes builder and the Beaconsfield grocer, who are conducting their normal business. They have no way of knowing that the person with whom they are doing business may be involved in nefarious activities that may subsequently lead them to be subject to the Bill's provisions.

A central function of Parliament, particularly of scrutiny in Committee, is to try to ensure that legislation does not, because of a side wind, have adverse consequences for the entirely innocent who were never intended to be the targets of the legislation. Even though the Minister will probably tell us that it will make the assessments more complicated, that is not a sufficient excuse. We must make sure, in every law that we pass, that we do not accidentally hit the little people. That is our concern.

Photo of Mr George Foulkes Mr George Foulkes Minister of State, Scottish Office, Minister of State (Scotland Office)

I understand that concern—and I am not going to say what the hon. Gentleman thinks that I was going to say.

The clause allows us to calculate the defendant's available amount, but it does not wipe out any debts that he or she may owe to the little trader that Opposition Members mention. The defendant would still owe all those debts.

Photo of Mr Nick Hawkins Mr Nick Hawkins Ceidwadwyr, Surrey Heath

I understand what the Minister says, and I appreciate that he says that he has never dealt with such matters professionally, but he has misunderstood—albeit genuinely—the effect of the Bill. In my experience, and that of my hon. Friend the Member for Beaconsfield, the innocent little person will lose out because the state's rights will take preference over all creditors. We do not challenge the fact that outstanding debts will still count in law, but there will be no money left to pay them.

Although the hon. Member for Lewes was describing an ordinary civil bankruptcy, the consequences that befell the builder that he mentioned will recur as a result of the Bill. Perhaps the Government are prepared to introduce their own amendment to prevent such consequences. We hope so, even if they do not accept our amendment. As a consequence, all the money will be taken under subsection (1)(b) and subsection (3), and there will be no money left to pay ordinary civil debts.

Photo of Norman Baker Norman Baker Shadow Spokesperson (Home Affairs)

Is not the key provision subsection (1)(a), which mentions ``free property'' and ``obligations''? What constitutes an obligation? Debts that are legitimately owed to third parties should constitute obligations. That would reduce the amount available to the state.

Photo of Mr Nick Hawkins Mr Nick Hawkins Ceidwadwyr, Surrey Heath

Yes. In order to satisfy us, the Minister and his officials would have to show that they had taken much advice from expert full-time insolvency practitioners. My hon. Friend the Member for Beaconsfield and I have said that those who specialise in insolvency work should advise us on how to determine the available amount, but we have not yet received a response. Both of us did some insolvency work when we practised at the Bar, and our reading is that the Bill will cause the little people to lose out. It will take a lot to convince us, and even the Minister will concede that the provisions are not clear. I hope that he at least concedes to look again at the issue.

There is a serious danger that the Bill could give rise to something almost as bad as the Crichel Down case, a major case that set out the principles of the relationship between Parliament and the citizen. The Minister smiles, because he has heard it referred to on many occasions over the years, but some hon. Members may not have come across it. It involved land that was appropriated for military purposes during the second world war and not given back. Some citizens undoubtedly suffered gross injustice. It came to public prominence because it was a major case that led the way on the subject. The late father of the well known actress Susannah York was one of those who lost out in the case.

We are concerned that many innocent, legitimate traders who are unlucky enough to do business with someone who becomes a target under the Bill will be unable to continue in business. They will be plunged into bankruptcy in the manner that the hon. Member for Lewes described. That would be an unintended consequence of the Bill; no hon. Member would wish it to happen, but there is a serious danger that it will. I hope that the Minister will say that he will look again at the matter in detail.

Photo of Ian Davidson Ian Davidson Labour/Co-operative, Glasgow Pollok

I wonder whether the Minister will respond to that point with caution, because it seems an example of what may be characterised as the Devizes defence, in which offenders or their relatives point to someone else, and say that he or she has committed a bigger offence. When taxed with the iniquities of his relatives, the hon. Member for Beaconsfield attempted a diversion by offering to give up the right hon. Member for Devizes, saying that he was a bigger offender. That is reminiscent of the defence along the lines of ``a big boy did it and then ran away''—a defence that many of us have heard in the past.

Although we might have sympathy for people who are bankrupted in such circumstances, am I right in thinking that that would have an adverse effect on small traders only if all the assets of the criminal involved were seized? Is that likely to happen frequently? If such a measure is introduced, what steps would the Government or the courts take to avoid the creation of fraudulent debts? It is possible that a set of villains who knew that they were under suspicion would create a web or a network of interlocking debts between themselves for services rendered—or not rendered—in an effort to decrease the amount of money that they had available?

Photo of Dominic Grieve Dominic Grieve Shadow Minister (Home Affairs)

I accept that if people have remaining assets after their assets have been seized under the procedure, those remaining assets would be available to pay for the debts that the Committee has discussed. In some instances, that might not be a problem. However, I am talking about cases in which people lose all their assets—and I believe that that will frequently happen.

Photo of Mr Nick Hawkins Mr Nick Hawkins Ceidwadwyr, Surrey Heath

My party is happy for there to be a proper inquiry into any fraudulent transactions, or interlocking transactions, that a defendant might come up with. That should happen. We do not want anybody to get away with the deliberate creation of fraudulent apparent debts. Our sole concern is that the provision might hit entirely innocent people. The court should have the opportunity to look at deliberate attempts to create fraudulent debts, and to ignore them. The Bill gives the court the power to look at matters such as tainted debts—as they are called. We do not seek to open a loophole. My party's intention is to ensure that the entirely innocent should not be hit, and I think that the hon. Gentleman agrees with that.

Photo of Ian Davidson Ian Davidson Labour/Co-operative, Glasgow Pollok

That is true. However, difficulties will arise if the concept of interlocking transactions that the hon. Gentleman raises becomes a reality. Presumably, if that happens, the only transactions that will come to light are those that the criminal who is being convicted brings forward, and the balancing contracts might not be produced at all if villains were to lend each other money. That would be a deliberate attempt to distort, and it would be difficult to gainsay.

Given that we are dealing with people who are, in many cases, pillars of the community, and who have lent money and engaged in transactions with other—alleged—pillars of the community, the scope for obfuscation is considerable. The amendment under discussion is almost certain to result in the opening up of an enormous number of loopholes—although I am sure that that is not the intention behind it.

Photo of Norman Baker Norman Baker Shadow Spokesperson (Home Affairs)

I am prepared to accept that difficulties and loopholes might be created. Nobody wants that to happen. The hon. Gentleman has championed the cause of the ordinary person—the man in the street who does not have much money and is not a Mr. Big. He is very keen on doing that. Does he not accept that there is a danger that the people whom he champions will be adversely effected if changes are not made?

Photo of Ian Davidson Ian Davidson Labour/Co-operative, Glasgow Pollok

Yes, I accept that there is a danger of that, but I am also aware that any opportunity that is taken to champion the rights of those whom I wish to protect will open up a loophole.

Photo of Ian Davidson Ian Davidson Labour/Co-operative, Glasgow Pollok

Yes, that is correct, and I am not convinced that the proposed catch-all removal is the best way of addressing the matter.

Photo of Mr George Foulkes Mr George Foulkes Minister of State, Scottish Office, Minister of State (Scotland Office)

As the hon. Member for Beaconsfield, who moved the amendment, said, the effect would be to allow unsecured creditors to take preference over the settlement of a confiscation order. I am referring to amendment No.32; amendment No. 75 is consequential to amendment No. 32. The Government do not support the principle behind the amendment.

My hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, Pollok questioned the hon. Member for Beaconsfield about the purposes behind all of the Opposition amendments, and the effect of almost all of them was to weaken—

It being One o'clock, The Chairman adjourned the Committee without Question put, pursuant to the Standing Order.

Adjourned till this day at half-past Four o'clock.