Legal issues
Section 75 sets out the qualifying routes, including specified offences and defined patterns or periods of offending. Do not apply a single financial threshold to every route. Section 10 addresses transfers, property held after conviction, expenditure and valuation free of other interests. Its six-year look-back has a defined starting point and exceptions; it is not simply six years before the confiscation hearing.
This guide concerns England and Wales.
For the wider service, see Proceeds of Crime (POCA). Related decisions are covered in Benefit and available amount in confiscation and Responding to section 16 and section 17 statements.
Evidence that matters
Create a transaction chronology covering the period actually alleged. Useful records include employment income, tax returns, sale completion statements, inheritance papers, loan agreements and evidence from the person who sent the money. Preserve original records and identify gaps explicitly. A cash deposit labelled “family money” needs more explanation than the label itself.
Reasonable lines of enquiry
For each entry, ask: which assumption is relied on, what amount is claimed, what is the lawful explanation and what independently supports it? If an old record is unavailable, document requests made to retrieve it and consider other reliable evidence. Avoid repeating an unsupported explanation across a whole group of unrelated transactions.
What happens next
The court must not apply an assumption to particular property or expenditure where it is shown to be incorrect or where applying it would create a serious risk of injustice. The current wording requires consideration of the circumstances, including evidence of injustice and explanations for being unable to produce rebuttal evidence. That is a reason to explain genuine evidential gaps carefully, not to assume every missing record defeats the prosecution.
Immediate steps
Check the alleged gateway against the convictions and dates. Ask for a schedule linking each sum to an assumption. Prioritise records at risk of becoming unavailable. Do not invent replacement documents or backdate loan agreements.
What should you send us?
Send the prosecution statement, conviction history relied on, transaction schedule, relevant tax and banking records, and a list of records you have tried unsuccessfully to obtain.