Reviewed by: Robert Amaee
Author: Trevor Millington OBE and Mark Sutherland Williams
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 978-0-19-956612-9
Price: £150

The Proceeds of Crime is an authoritative and accessible book, now rightly into its third edition. Previous editions have been essential companions for proceeds of crime practitioners, in private practice and law enforcement, for years and this edition is likely to be just as invaluable.

Trevor Millington is a distinguished barrister and a senior lawyer in the asset forfeiture division of Revenue & Customs’ prosecutions office, a unit he set up in 1989 while at the then solicitor’s office of HM Customs & Excise.

Mark Sutherland Williams is a renowned barrister and head of his chambers’ asset forfeiture group, and has acted in many significant proceeds of crime and drug trafficking cases. He also sits as a deputy tribunal judge.

The book provides a concise, but comprehensive tour of the proceeds of crime landscape, from restraint, ancillary and other orders through to confiscation and civil recovery, and on to investigations, money laundering, costs, condemnation and restoration.

Proceeds of Crime is well structured and the easy-to-navigate format has been retained from previous editions. There are some necessary revisions to chapters, including those on confiscation to include key legislative changes and the significant case law that has emerged in this area over the three years since the last edition.

The authors strike a welcome balance between the need to provide step-by-step practical guidance to practitioners and their desire to explain and comment on the context of, and the impetus for, legislative change.

For example, the chapters dealing with restraint orders, applications to vary or discharge those orders and their enforcement, provide a detailed discussion of the legislative steer gleaned from recent case law, details on civil procedure that will be useful to those predominantly practising in criminal law and a studious guide for first-time proceeds of crime advocates.

Concise overview

Chapters on civil recovery and cash seizure set the context well and explain the standard of proof to be met and the differences between the civil recovery and confiscation regimes, as well as providing practical procedural assistance.

Chapters on money laundering and the SARs regime are also worthy of praise, providing a concise overview of the principal money laundering offences, and key case law, and an informative discussion of the SARs regime and its implications for professional advisers.

Despite the length of time the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 has been in force, practitioners still sometimes have to deal with cases that straddle its in-force date, so the book retains a trimmed down discussion of the offences and obligations under the Criminal Justice Act 1989 and the Drug Trafficking Act 1994.

The appendices provide relevant extracts from the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, and draft restraint, receivership and civil recovery orders, among others, as well as the Attorney-General Guidance to prosecuting bodies on their asset recovery powers under POCA 2002.

Proceeds of Crime is a well-written, well-structured and definitive reference book that is an essential addition or update to any library.

Robert Amaee is an of counsel at Covington & Burling, and a former head of anti-corruption and head of proceeds of crime at the UK Serious Fraud Office

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