Confiscation|POCA Proceedings - Nominal Order at Kingston Crown Court

Our client was charged in a prosecution brought by the National Crime Agency (NCA) called ‘Operation Semisheer’ in relation to allegations of Conspiracy to Supply Drugs and Money Laundering.

Ultimately our client was subject to surveillance that was concentrated on a property in London that was labelled the ‘hub of the enterprise’. Upon arrest the property was found to contain a significant amount of cash.

The total value of the ‘conspiracy’ was just under £1.5million. At sentence in 2015 we made submissions in respect of our client’s involvement in the conspiracy and the Court accepted that our client was only involved to the value of approximately £150,000.

Prior to the confiscation/POCA hearing, the Prosecution accepted that our client had not benefited from his ‘particular criminal conduct’ and confirmed that they were content with our basis of plea in that we held the role of ‘meeter and greeter’ and therefore did not ‘benefit’ from the crime.

This only left ‘general criminal conduct’ and we managed to displace the burden of proof on our client by providing clear and cogent evidence in relation to a substantial amount of money that had passed through his hands.

As a result, the Court ruled that the ‘benefit figure’ for our client was £18,000 and that the available amount that the client should pay by way of a Confiscation Order was only £9.

Needless to say our client was very pleased with the outcome of the case.

The case was conducted by Tim Thompson at Kangs Solicitors