Criminal cash recovery vow ‘a laughing stock’

Prosecutors who vowed to go back and strip crooks of their future earnings have failed to recoup a penny from any of them.

A hard-core of 16 criminals who claimed during proceeds of crime hearings they had blown their ill-gotten gains were warned any assets they accrued in the years ahead would be tracked down and seized.

They were hit with £1 peppercorn payments so prosecutors could keep their cases open. But an investigation by The Sunday Post has discovered none of the cases has resulted in ANY subsequent financial action.

That’s despite the criminal activity linked to them estimated to have netted close to £4 million.

The revelation has raised fresh questions over the effectiveness of proceeds of crime legislation, which has come under fire for failing to live up to expectations.

Tory justice spokeswoman Margaret Mitchell blasted: “These are, in many cases, dangerous criminals who continue to make vast amounts of money to society’s cost. We support the POCA principles, but unless it is seen through to the end the criminal community will make it a laughing stock.”

When the Proceeds of Crime Act was introduced in 2003 officials warned criminals they faced tough action on their illegal activities. But some crooks were able to defeat the full force of the law by pointing out that they had no funds or assets left. In these cases the Crown took them to court for ‘nominal’ orders of just £1.

We revealed in August how prosecutors hoped the legal step would allow them to take further action in the future.

But the system has “failed spectacularly” according to Ms Mitchell.

The 16 crooks who have handed over just £1 include knock-off kingpin Tarique Ali, from Shawlands, Glasgow. He was let off from prison after admitting selling an estimated £1.3 million worth of fake goods in 2009. But despite pleading guilty he was given a rap on the knuckles by the courts and told to hand over just £1 in 2013.

In 2010 cops swooped on DVD pirate king and drug dealer Ian Sweeney, who was running a cocaine factory from a Glasgow flat. He was caught with £80,000 worth of drugs.

During the probe he boasted to police of how he owned two flats outright and held a number of bank accounts which showed large cash deposits.

Credit card statements also revealed spending on designer clothes and trips to the USA, Mexico and Japan.

But by the time prosecutors tried to seize his assets under POCA a year after he was jailed, all the money was gone and he was bankrupt.