Proceeds Of Crime - Judicial Review

The vexed question as to the remedies available to a customer when faced by an informal freeze of his assets under the Proceeds of Crime (Jersey) Law 1999 ("the Law"), has again been considered by the Jersey courts and this time for the first occasion by the Court of Appeal (Gichuru v. The States of Jersey Police [2008] JCA 163A). The problem arises where the police do not give consent to the bank or other financial institution to the release of a customer's funds, due to a suspicion that they may be the proceeds of crime. As a result those funds effectively become subject to an indefinite and informal freeze by virtue of Article 32 of the Law, given that the bank or financial institution is most unlikely to deal with the assets without police consent.