Part of Proceeds of Crime Bill – in a Public Bill Committee am 4:30 pm ar 15 Ionawr 2002.
The Minister may wish to consider another issue in respect of the clause. In a sense, I was
pleased that the appeals procedure makes special provision that the
''Presiding Special Commissioner may nominate one or more assessors to assist the Special Commissioners'',
and that those assessors
''must have special knowledge and experience of the matter to which the appeal relates''.
I assume that means that, in the case of a tax matter that has been handled by the director, not the Board of Inland Revenue, there will be—for the purposes of an appeal—special commissioners who have particular or expert knowledge of proceeds of crime issues. I should not think that such people exist at present, so I presume that some steps will have to be taken to train them. Otherwise, the risk is that they will be drawn from within the law enforcement world, which would not be desirable. I sorry not to have tabled an amendment along those lines, but the idea is interesting. I do not expect that that expertise is currently available, because such legal procedure and practice are novel.