ASSETS RECOVERY AGENCY GETS FIRST PROPERTY FREEZING ORDERS
24 Jan 2006 02:15 PM
The Agency has been granted Property Freezing Orders (PFOs) in two
separate cases for assets estimated to be worth over £770,000. One
Order covers assets in Norbury and Croydon with an estimated value of
£380,000 held by Gheorghe Virtosu, currently serving an eight year
prison sentence in France for a number of offences including human
trafficking. The other Order covers assets in Yorkshire of over
£390,000 held by Rosalind Glover of Keighley that the Agency contends
have been acquired through the unlawful activity of Ms Glover's
brother, Matthew Glover, who is serving a 25 year prison sentence for
drugs supply offences.
These are the first PFOs granted to the Agency - the relevant
legislation came into force on 1 January 2006 - and prevent
respondents from dealing with the property specified in the Order in
any way whilst the Agency continues investigations.
In the Agency's action involving Mr Virtosu, assets include
properties in Norbury, SW16 and Thornton Heath, Croydon, the proceeds
of a sale of a Norbury property and a BMW X5 Sport Automatic. Ms
Victoria Virtosu is also named as a respondent to the Agency's action
as she has access to the assets but is not implicated in any
criminality. Mr Virtosu, a British citizen originally from Moldova,
was convicted by the Nice Court of First Instance in February 2004.
In addition to eight years imprisonment he was fined E500,000 and an
apartment he had purchased in France was confiscated. The National
Crime Squad's Immigration Crime Team worked in close cooperation with
the French authorities and referred this case to ARA.
In the Agency' s action involving Ms Glover, assets include land at
Mark House Lane, Gargarve, near Skipton, the proceeds of the sale of
a property in Keighley and investments which together have a total
estimated value of £390,704.00. Her brother, Matthew Glover was
sentenced at Preston Crown Court on 25 March 2002 to 25 years
imprisonment for supplying ecstasy, amphetamines and cannabis resin
with a collective value of £1.6.million. This case was referred to
the Agency by the National Crime Squad.
Jane Earl, Director of the Agency said "The Agency uses its unique
powers firmly and fairly to make sure that crime does not pay. In
both of these cases we have grounds to believe that assets have been
acquired that could not have been funded from legitimate income.
Property Freezing Orders enable us to conduct comprehensive
investigations knowing that assets cannot be disposed of before the
Court determines whether, on the balance of probabilities, they have
been acquired with the proceeds of crime."
Notes for Editors:
1. Before the introduction of Property Freezing Orders, the Agency
could apply to the High Court for only two types of restraint, an
Interim Receiving Order which required an Interim Receiver (an
independent officer of the Court) to carry out their own
investigation into the provenance of funds, or a Freezing Order
together with a claim form which specified particular assets; this
restricted the Agency from widening their investigation. PFO's allow
the Agency to continue investigations into a respondent's financial
affairs in order to determine whether assets have been acquired
through unlawful activity whilst at the same time ensuring that the
assets under investigation cannot be dissipated.
2. We are not releasing details of the addresses covered by these
Orders to protect the privacy of bona fide occupants who are not
implicated in any criminality.
3. The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 created the Assets Recovery Agency
and provided completely new powers to allow ARA to seek a criminal
confiscation or civil recovery of the proceeds of unlawful activity
by an action in the Crown or High Court respectively. The Agency can
also issue tax assessments where there are reasonable grounds to
suspect that there is taxable income, gain or profit from criminal
conduct.
4. The Agency is playing its part in the multi-agency approach to
deliver the Government's Asset Recovery Strategy. Under the cross
government initiative 'Payback', the tracing of and recovery of
assets is seen as an important element in the delivery of justice,
and sends out a strong deterrent message. The overall aims of the
strategy are to make greater use of the investigations of criminal
assets in the fight against crime; recover money that has been made
from crime or which is intended for use in crime; prevent criminals
and their associates from laundering the proceeds of criminal
conduct, and detect and penalise such laundering where it occurs; to
use the proceeds recovered for the benefit of the community.
5. Assets are usually restrained at an early stage in the Agency's
proceedings. Interim Receiving Orders, Freezing Orders or Property
Freezing Orders are granted where ARA has presented a good arguable
case to the High Court that assets have been unlawfully acquired - at
this stage only the Agency's initial arguments have been heard.
Respondents then have the opportunity to present any facts to counter
the Agency's arguments.
Assets Recovery Agency, PO Box 39992
London EC4M 7XQ
T +44 (020) 7029 5700
F +44 (020) 7029 5706
E enquiries@ara.gsi.gov.uk www.assetsrecovery.gov.uk