What is it?
The Criminal Finances Act 2017 received Royal Assent on 27 April 2017 ahead of the dissolution of parliament for the general election. The Act does not contain many of the items in the Criminal Finances Bill 2016 because of the last minute rush to get it on the statute books but there is plenty of bite in this latest weapon in the enforcement armoury! The Act is a direct relation to the Panama papers scandal in which journalists leaked details of “the secretive offshore businesses used to hide wealth, evade taxes and commit fraud by the world’s dictators business tycoons and criminals”.[1]
Main features
The main features of the CFA 2017 are:
- It amends the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA)
- It makes provisions in connection with terrorist property
- It creates corporate offences around tax evasion (which need a new commencement order before coming into force)
- It gives investigators additional powers as to source of wealth enquiries
The main impact of the CFA will be in the creation of UWOs (Unexplained Wealth Orders) and in the strict liability corporate offences of failing to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion.
These are considered in a little more detail below:
