How effective can this first use of the new Serious Crime Prevention Orders under the Serious Crime Act 2007 possibly be ?
According to this Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office press release:
Friday 27 June 2008 17:47
Revenue and Customs Prosecution Office (National)
RCPO landmark case - the first ever use of SCPO powers under the Serious Crime Act
Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office (RCPO) secured three Serious Crime Prevention Orders (SCPO) today following an investigation by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA). The ruling at Isleworth Crown Court is in the first ever use of new legislation in England and Wales.
For 5 years from the day they are released from prison, members of the gang will be at risk of an additional 5 years in prison if they breach the Orders - which are designed to stop them carrying out activities related to the possession and movement of money.
Loch Hakimzada, his wife Praveen Hakimzada and Kuljeet Grover today received a total of 17 years imprisonment for their part in laundering cash for organised crime networks. The Hakimzadas used the cover of a Money Service Bureau to launder £25million during a period of just over 2 years. Grover was their trusted lieutenant. A junior member of the gang, Christopher Harrison was also sentenced today to one year imprisonment, but was not subject to a SCPO.
Huge sums of Scottish and English bank notes were collected by the gang in bags or boxes typically in the street or in a car park. The cash was then passed through counting machines at the family home before being transferred abroad - mainly to Dubai where other contacts, probably relatives, continued the process. The true nature of the activities was concealed by the creation of false records. Painstaking investigation revealed links to drugs and other smuggling.
In addition to the sentences, Loch and Praveen Hakimzada and Grover were given Financial Reporting Orders requiring them to report all their financial details every year and on release every 6 months for 10 years. Deportation orders were made in respect of Loch Hakimzada and Grover.
[...]Notes for editors:
[...]
5. Loch HAKIMZADA - 9 years imprisonment
Praveen HAKIMZADA - 4 years imprisonment
Kuljeet GROVER - 4 years imprisonment
Christopher HARRISON - 1 year[...]
Could some please explain how either the Serious Crime Reporting Orders or the Financial Reporting Orders are actually going to be monitored for compliance or enforced, when two of the villains will have been deported to a foreign legal jurisdiction ?
Why will they ever be allowed back into the United Kingdom ?
Will bureaucrats be "forced" to make expensive "investigation" or "liaison" overseas trips for the next 14 to 19 years (i.e. 10 years after the end of the prison sentences given to the criminals ) ?
This first use of SCPOs looks likely to be even less effective than that of ASBOs.
We still fear that these SCPO powers, which, just like ASBOs, can also be inflicted on people who have not actually been arrested, charged or convicted of any crime, will be abused in the future, to try to suppress investigative journalists or bloggers, to prevent them from offering to publish leaked information from Government whistleblowers (the Official Secrets Act is specifically listed in the Serious Crime Act 2007).
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