It was announced on Wednesday that the Serious Fraud Office
(SFO) has recovered half a million pounds worth of jewellery from a
safe deposit box under the listed asset provisions of the Proceeds
of Crime Act 2002 (POCA). The forfeiture is part of a civil
recovery investigation arising from the Birmingham Mortgage Fraud
case: a £50 million fraud investigation/prosecution that
began in March 2006.1
The listed asset provisions are a relatively new law enforcement
tool that was introduced by the Criminal Finances Act 2017. They
allow 'relevant officers' – including constables, and
certain officers of the SFO, Her Majesty's Revenue &
Customs (HMRC) and the National Crime Agency (NCA) – to seize
an item of property if they have reasonable grounds to suspect
that: