Criminal Finances Act 2017

28 Seized money

After section 131 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 insert—

“Seized money

131ZA Seized money

(1) This section applies to money which—

(a) is held by a person, and

(b) is held in an account maintained by the person with a bank or building society.

(2) This section also applies to money which is held by a person and which—

(a) has been seized under a relevant seizure power by a constable or another person lawfully exercising the power, and

(b) is being detained in connection with a criminal investigation or prosecution or with an investigation of a kind mentioned in section 341.

(3) But this section applies to money only so far as the money is free property.

(4) Subsection (5) applies if—

(a) a confiscation order is made against a person holding money to which this section applies, and

(b) an administrator has not been appointed under section 128 in relation to the money.

(5) The relevant court may order the appropriate person to pay, within such period as the court may specify, the money or a portion of it specified by the court to the appropriate clerk of court on account of the amount payable under the confiscation order.

(6) An order under subsection (5) may be made—

(a) on the application of the prosecutor, or

(b) by the relevant court of its own accord.

(7) The Scottish Ministers may by regulations amend this section so that it applies by virtue of subsection (1) not only to money held in an account maintained with a bank or building society but also to—

(a) money held in an account maintained with a financial institution of a specified kind, or

(b) money that is represented by, or may be obtained from, a financial instrument or product of a specified kind.

(8) Regulations under subsection (7) may amend this section so that it makes provision about realising an instrument or product within subsection (7)(b) or otherwise obtaining money from it.

(9) In this section—

• “appropriate clerk of court”, in relation to a confiscation order, means the sheriff clerk of the sheriff court responsible for enforcing the confiscation order under section 211 of the Procedure Act as applied by section 118(1);

• “appropriate person” means—

  (a)

  in a case where the money is held in an account maintained with a bank or building society, the bank or building society;

  (b)

  in any other case, the person on whose authority the money is detained;

• “bank” means an authorised deposit-taker, other than a building society, that has its head office or a branch in the United Kingdom;

• “building society” has the same meaning as in the Building Societies Act 1986;

• “relevant court”, in relation to a confiscation order, means—

  (a)

  the court which makes the confiscation order, or

  (b)

  the sheriff court responsible for enforcing the confiscation order under section 211 of the Procedure Act as applied by section 118(1);

• “relevant seizure power” means a power to seize money conferred by or by virtue of—

  (a)

  a warrant granted under any enactment or rule of law, or

  (b)

  any enactment, or rule of law, under which the authority of a warrant is not required.

(10) In the definition of “bank” in subsection (9), “authorised deposit-taker” means—

(a) a person who has permission under Part 4A of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 to accept deposits;

(b) a person who—

(i) is specified, or is within a class of persons specified, by an order under section 38 of that Act (exemption orders), and

(ii) accepts deposits;

(c) an EEA firm of the kind mentioned in paragraph 5(b) of Schedule 3 to that Act that has permission under paragraph 15 of that Schedule (as a result of qualifying for authorisation under paragraph 12(1) of that Schedule) to accept deposits.

(11) A reference in subsection (10) to a person or firm with permission to accept deposits does not include a person or firm with permission to do so only for the purposes of, or in the course of, an activity other than accepting deposits.”