Amount seized in forfeiture orders jumps 77% to £191m in past year

22 November 2022

Issue: 4868 / Categories: News

The amount of money seized by law enforcement agencies including HMRC the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the National Crime Agency (NCA) has jumped 77% from £108m to £191m in the year to 5 April 2022.

Account freezing orders (AFOs) are used by enforcement agencies to freeze UK bank or building society accounts and are granted by the magistrates' court. Agencies can use them to prevent money from being accessed if they believe this might be linked to criminal activity even before an investigation has taken place. They can apply to accounts with balances of just £1 000 and enable authorities to preserve funds for subsequent forfeiture.

If the authority is satisfied that the funds are the proceeds of crime they can then serve an account forfeiture notice to seize the money without any judicial oversight or apply to the court for an account forfeiture order.

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