Our services
- Practice areas
- / Unexplained wealth orders
-
Corker Binning is ranked as a Leading Firm for asset forfeiture by Chambers 2019.
Read here what Chambers says about four of our partners.
Unexplained wealth orders
An unexplained wealth order can be made in respect of any property valued at more than £50,000, wherever in the world it is situated, if a court is satisfied that there is reasonable cause to believe a person has an interest in it and reasonable grounds to suspect that they would not have been able to obtain that property using their lawfully obtained income from known sources. The court must also be satisfied that the person against whom the order is made is a politically exposed person from a state outside the European Economic Area, a person about whom there are reasonable grounds to suspect involvement in serious crime, or is closely connected to a person in either one of those categories.
If a UWO is made, the respondent or the subject of the order is given a limited amount of time in which to respond. A failure to do so can be relied upon in civil recovery proceedings. The law reverses the burden of proof; the respondent must show that the property is not the proceeds of crime otherwise it will be presumed that the property can be forfeited. Regardless of whether civil recovery proceedings are commenced, the response can be used to inform other investigations, including criminal investigations.
UWO’s are intended partly to demonstrate that the UK is committed to seizing the benefit of crimes especially corruption committed overseas. Their potential weakness stems from their politically charged nature. The UK courts will be concerned to ensure that they are not exploited in order to either harass or as a means to satisfy an overseas political enemy of the respondent.
MoreNamed as key individuals in the field of POCA Work & Asset Forfeiture by Chambers and Partners UK 2019:
Jessica Parker
Peter Binning
David Corker
Andrew Smith
- Corker Binning is ranked in Band 1 of recommended firms for POCA Work & Asset Forfeiture by Chambers and Partners UK 2019.
- Corker Binning is ranked as a first tier firm for Fraud: White-collar crime by The Legal 500 2019. David Corker, Peter Binning and Andrew Smith are Leading Individuals.
- Peter Binning, David Corker, Jessica Parker and Robert Brown are recognised as leading individuals in Who’s Who Legal: Investigations 2018.
Related articles
- Claire Cross comments on the FCA’s first decision notice against former CEO of Sonali Bank UK in GIR
- Jessica Parker comments on the growing pressure to clamp down on money laundering in the IBA
- Peter Binning and David Corker comment on a £300m court for fraud, cybercrime and economic crime cases in New Law Journal, CDR and The Law Society Gazette
- David Corker comments on the Law Commission’s recommendations to reform search warrant laws in Global Investigations Review
- Peter Binning and Ben Henriques comment on UWOs in The Law Society Gazette
- David Corker discusses the judgment in R (AL) v SFO and third party disclosure in criminal proceedings in CrimeLine and GIR
- Peter Binning and Ben Henriques discuss sophisticated modern money laundering in Financier Worldwide
- Andrew Smith comments on anti-money laundering measures and FinTech in KYC360
- Jessica Parker comments on UK fraud hitting a 15-year high in Bloomberg and Insurance Journal
- Jessica Parker comments on the facilitation of tax evasion in economia
Blog / News