Blog
The rise of the cryptoassets in financial remedies
Connie Atkinson
13 March 2019
“GPS tagging”: real time monitoring of individuals
Last month the Justice Secretary David Gauke announced that the GPS tag pilot would be rolled out nationwide this summer. While this announcement should have a significant impact on sentencing, its greatest impact may be felt much earlier in proceedings. If the police are able to monitor the real time location of any accused person, we may see a real drop in the number of those remanded in custody.
13 March 2019
“Carrying on as we are is not a prudent option” says the Competition and Market Authority
The Competition and Market Authority’s (CMA) Business Plan 2019-20 was presented as necessarily high level with a work programme and priorities contingent on the outcome of Brexit (see related blog: Brexit uncertainty pervades Competition and Markets Authority Annual Plan 2019-20).
12 March 2019
Estate agents come under the HMRC spotlight
On 4 March, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (“HMRC”) announced that they had imposed a £215,000 fine on Countrywide estate agents for failing to register the company as required under the Money Laundering Regulations 2017. This announcement was swiftly followed by the publication of the Treasury Committee report on economic crime on 8 March, where estate agents came in for stinging criticism for failing to have proper regard to money laundering compliance and risk assessment in their dealings.
4 March 2019
SFO v ENRC: what did the Court of Appeal decide and what does it mean for lawyers?
In September 2018, the Court of Appeal handed down its judgment on ENRC’s appeal against Andrews J’s High Court decision in the case of The Director of the Serious Fraud Office v ENRC. The judgment has been praised for going some way to restore sense and order to the protection of legal professional privilege.
28 February 2019
‘No deal’ is a backwards step for solving crime across borders
Shortly after the referendum result, I attended a meeting in Whitehall to which representatives of a wide range of criminal justice agencies had been invited. Our host, a policy official, told us that Brexit was to be viewed as an opportunity and asked us to identify the specific opportunities Brexit afforded us in our work. There was a stony silence; a tumbleweed moment. We all knew that, as the Institute for Government would later pithily observe, the UK would struggle to invent an arrangement on law enforcement co-operation with the EU that suits it better than the one it has now. What’s more, as matters stand, these arrangements will come to a grinding halt in little over a month. Where will that leave those agencies tasked with dealing with serious cross-border crime?
- Controlling and coercive behaviour
- Corporate crime
- Corporate manslaughter and health and safety
- Crime and justice
- Cyber crime
- Extradition and international crime
- Financial crime and financial regulatory enforcement
- Fraud
- Internal investigations
- Legal Updates
- Online Safety Regulation
- Police investigations
- Proceeds of Crime
- The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act
- Unexplained Wealth Orders
- Youth crime and justice