Money laundering news 21/09/2009 Scottish police to spend money recovered from criminals on more financial investigators

Three of Scotlands police forces are to receive a share of money recovered from criminals to help in their fight against serious organised crime - and they are matching the funding from their own resources, making a total of £1m over two years.

Under a funding package agreed between the Scottish Government and chief police officers, Strathclyde, Lothian and Borders, and Tayside police forces are to share £250,000 of money recovered from criminals per year for the next two years.

The investment will be used to boost financial investigation and recovery of assets from criminals. It will go towards the recruitment of 19 more financial investigators across the three forces and the setting up of a new Cash Seizure Unit in Strathclyde.

The funding will enable Strathclyde to appoint 11 new members of police staff to focus on financial investigation and to ensure the full powers of the Proceeds of Crime Act are being exploited. Lothian and Borders will now have five additional financial investigators and Tayside three additional financial investigators. The effectiveness of the pilots will be evaluated and, if successful, may be rolled out to other forces.

The total amount secured through the Proceeds of Crime Act in the 12 months to March 31, 2009 was £3,508,548 from criminals convicted of relevant offences and £2,823,533 from cash forfeitures and asset recovery orders granted by the civil courts.

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said, The Scottish Government and police service are together targeting our investment to cut off the financial lifeblood of criminal enterprises. We are committed to giving the police the right tools to take on these criminals. It is fitting that we are using the proceeds of crime to help our police track these gangsters illegal dealings and seize their ill-gotten gains.

The investment complements the groundbreaking Cashback for Communities scheme, which uses recovered cash to improve the lives of communities which have been blighted by serious organised crime.

More than £13m has been invested in a range of projects and more than 100,000 young people have benefited from the scheme since 2007and tens of thousands more will benefit as more projects are rolled out across Scotland.

News « Scottish proceeds of crime will finance investigations

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