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Security & Investigation Debt Process Text
Security & Investigation Financial Investigation Unit Criminal Debt
Recovery Process > £20K
Step 1
FIU Manager receives and reviews case details from the ‘Casework Team’
(CWT). As a general ‘rule of thumb’, The Security & Investigation Financial
Investigation Unit (FIU) tends not to deal with Multiple branches and / or
cases outside England and Wales. (i.e. Scottish, Irish laws tend to differ) The
Security and Investigation Team are notified immediately of all losses >£20K.
Ged Harbinson is the FIU Manager.
The Security Programme Managers (i.e. Currently Lisa Allen / Jason Collins)
issue cases to the Security Investigators who conduct interviews with
suspects / offenders and complete a ‘Suspect Offender Report’. Upon
completion this information is subsequently forwarded to the FIU Manager
along with a Financial Evaluation sheet (FES).
Typically, details include branch name, date, details of loss and key
stakeholders and any recovery details.
Step 2
Where cases reside outside of England or Wales and / or pertain to Multiple
branches the case is rejected. (i.e. Not dealt with by the Financial
Investigation Unit) Send e-mail back to CWT with appropriate reasons.
Otherwise, accept case and proceed to step 3.
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Step 3
The FIU Manager assigns case to a Financial Investigator (Fl). (i.e. Currently
Ged Harbinson, Graham Ward or Paul Southin)
Step 4
E-mail CWT, Security Programme Manager and allocated Security Advisor to
confirm which Financial Investigator (Fl) is assigned to case.
Step 5
Add case details to local records. (i.e. Fl Case File Record.xls) Worksheets
include ‘Reports Received’ and ‘Fl Cases on Hand’.
Typically, details comprise of the following:
Reports Received
Case Number
Office
Branch code
Suspect
Grade or position
case raised received
48 hour report received
loss
Recovery
Action
Fl allocated
Cases on hand updated
Investigator informed
comments
Fl Cases on Hand
No.
Case no.
Date
Loss
Office
Branch Code
Offender
PO Investigator
FI
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Date Notified
Current activity
Open/Closed
Last updated
Comments
Step 6
Create electronic (Windows Explorer) / hard copy files to store actions,
decisions and other associated documentation pertinent to case. There are
strict documentation guidelines provided by the National Police Improvement
Agency. (NPIA) (e.g. Events log, Policy logs, document logs and other
schedules to help manage cases).
Step 7
Assess crime and potential recovery strategies. (e.g. Anti-Money Laundering
/ Confiscation).
Step 8
Assess potential for dissipation of assets. (i.e. To spend or expend
intemperately or wastefully; squander assets).
Step 9
Is offender likely to dissipate assets?
Step 10
If no at step 9, then go to step 26. If yes, build case for issuing ‘Restraint
Order’ and complete ‘Restraint Order’ form. (i.e. To mitigate against
dissipation of assets and future risk of debt recovery) A prerequisite is to
identify assets pertaining to the offender. (e.g. Property, Automobiles, liquid
assets to name but a few). Searches may involve the Land Registry, financial
institutions or other searches to identify assets. It is also important to identify
other debts the offender may be liable. Ownership (e.g. property /
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automobiles) is a key part of the process. (i.e. Vehicles may be hired and not
owned)
Step 11
Financial Investigator discusses case with Senior Appropriate Officer (SAO)
and obtains consent to restrain.
Step 12
Does the SAO agree with ‘Restraint Order’?
Step 13
If no at step 12, complete NPIA record of authorisation. (i.e. Restraint case
not progressed)
Step 14
If yes at step 12, complete NPIA record of authorisation with appropriate
details.
Step 15
E-mail Restraint Order to PO Ltd Criminal Law Team (i.e. Currently Rob
Wilson) to evaluate.
Step 16
Do the Criminal Law Team agree with the ‘Restraint Order’ details from a
legal perspective?
Step 17
If no at step 16, go back to step 10, and re-examine evidence / resubmit
‘Restraint Order’ if appropriate or continue case without restraint. If yes,
complete application for issuing a ‘Restraint Order’ on the offender. The
application includes details of the investigation, the extent to which the
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offender has benefitted from the crime, and details of the assets to which PO
Ltd want to issue a ‘Restraint Order’.
Note: The Financial Investigation Unit currently has a 100% success rate for
making an application for ‘Restraint Orders’. (i.e. largely due to robust
evidence).
Step 18
Complete ‘Restraint Order’. This is essentially a legal document which
prohibits offenders from disposing of assets. Disobedience is punishable by
imprisonment.
Step 19
The Financial Investigator attends court to relay evidence and obtain the
‘Restraint Order’.
Step 20
Is ‘Restraint Order’ awarded by the Court of Law?
Step 21
If no at step 20, go back to step 10 and re-examine evidence / resubmit
‘Restraint Order’ if appropriate or continue case without restraint. If yes at
step 20, serve ‘Restraint Order’ on offender and / or other individual /
institution. (e.g. Relative / bank etc.) The restraint order essentially helps
secure monies for future debt recovery. (e.g. Confiscation and subsequent
compensation).
Step 22
Arrange visit to local (or other) Police Station to update the Joint Asset
Recovery Database (JARD). A separate JARD case details form is
maintained locally to help transfer details onto JARD. Typically, information
includes the offenders details, (i.e. address, assets, restraint orders) the
amount of loss, and court proceedings to name but a few.
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Step 23
Is all debt repaid?
Step 24
If yes, at step 23 process payment(s). Payments are received in several
forms and by different stakeholders. (e.g. Cheques, BACs etc.) All payments
received by the Security and Investigation Team are credited to the Bank of
Ireland Account, Security Recovery Fund Account. However, monies are also
received by the PO Ltd Criminal Investigation Team and Contract Advisors in
different forms. These are forwarded to the ‘Former Agents Debt Team’ for
subsequent processing.
Step 25
Update JARD and case file with appropriate details.
Step 26
Notify stakeholders of outcome and close case. (i.e. Memorandum to Senior
Security Manager, Security Investigation Team, CWT, PO Ltd Criminal
Investigation Team)
Step 27
If no at step 23, does the defendant have further realisable assets? (i.e.
There are circumstances when only part of the debt is repaid. It is therefore
important to ascertain whether the defendant has further assets that may be
used to recover the debt). Clearly, it is not always worth pursuing the case.
(i.e. Particularly where there are no assets).
Step 28
If no at step 27, update JARD and case file with appropriate details.
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Step 29
Notify stakeholders of outcome and close case. (i.e. Memorandum to Senior
Security Manager, Security Investigation Team, CWT, PO Ltd Criminal
Investigation Team)
Step 30
If yes, at step 27, ascertain how the defendant benefitted from the crime and
the level of confiscation required to cover the amount of loss / debt. This
investigative part of the process is a fairly varied and often lengthy involving a
number of activities. (e.g. Land Registry searches, property valuations, and
bank account searches to name but a few). Case Law is often used to
determine how the benefits are calculated. As a consequence, a schedule of
Case Laws are retained and applied to subsequent cases. The Retail Price
Index (RPI) is also applied when recovering losses.
Step 31
The offender attends the Court of Law.
Step 32
Is the defendant guilty? If no go to step 47.
Step 33
If yes at step 32, complete Section 18 Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. (i.e. To
acquire details of assets belonging to the defendant). The defendant must
provide these details within 28 days.
Step 34
E-mail Section 18 to PO Ltd Criminal Law Team and Investigator.
Step 35
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The PO Ltd Criminal Law Team assigns a Barrister to the case. (i.e. A lawyer
who speaks in the higher courts of law on behalf of either the defence or
prosecution).
Step 36
Attend court hearing and sentencing. (i.e. PO Ltd versus defendant) The
Financial Investigator will always attend the court hearing. This process
usually involves making a request for confiscation and subsequent
compensation to recover monies owed to PO Ltd, albeit, each case is unique
and the course of action may differ slightly. The court will be asked to serve
‘Section 18’ (See step 29) on the defendant. The defendant must provide
details of all assets within the court (usually 28 days by affidavit) and set a
confiscation timetable.
The Financial Investigator completes a ‘Section 16 (3) or a 16 (5) dependant
on the offence statement’. (i.e. A formal document written to state the facts as
they are believed by the prosecution). And this is served on the defence. The
defendant will respond using a ‘Section 17’.
Step 37
The Financial Investigator completes a ‘Section 16 (6) and this is served on
the defence.
Step 38
The Security and Investigation Team complete the following documentation:-
(1) Schedule of Available Realisable Assets. (i.e. A detail of all the
defendant's assets).
(2) Confiscation Order. A confiscation order is made after a person has been
convicted. The purpose of a confiscation order is to ensure that the
Defendant cannot benefit from the proceeds of their crime. The court
determines the amount of benefit received from the relevant criminal conduct.
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“Powers to confiscate from convicted defendants their benefit from crime were
first introduced following the failure to recover funds in a drug trafficking case
in 1978 known as Operation Julie. In this case, some £750,000 of drug
trafficking proceeds were traced into the hands of the offenders and
restrained. These funds had to be released after the House of Lords held that
existing powers to forfeit items used in the commission of an offence could not
be used "to strip the drug traffickers of the total profits of their unlawful
enterprises." Source: www.opsi.gov.uk
(3) Compensation Order. (i.e. That compensation from the Confiscation Order
must be paid to PO Ltd).
(4) Discharge Restraint Order. (i.e. Used to discharge restraint orders on
defendants).
Step 39
The Financial Investigator attends the Crown Court Confiscation Hearing.
Step 40
The defence, Financial Investigator and PO Ltd Barrister’s discuss ‘best deal’
prior to ‘Confiscation Hearing’. (e.g. The defendant may have stolen £50K,
and benefited by a further £50K, but the defendant may agree to settle £75K
without further delay). In reality, it is in PO Ltd’s interest to secure £75K than
incurring significant further costs that may not help recover the other £25K
etc.).
Step 41
The court awards ‘Confiscation’ and ‘Compensation’ against the defendant.
Step 42
The court subsequently lifts ‘Restraint Order’ against the defendant.
Step 43
The Financial Investigator Serves the discharge of the ‘Restraint Order’ on
the defence and effected institutions.
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Step 44
The Financial Investigator contacts the ‘Regional Asset Recovery Team’ at
the ‘Serious Organised Crime Agency’ (SOCA) to ascertain who is dealing
with case and updates JARD.
Step 45
The defendant repays monies to ‘Regional Asset Recovery Team’.
Note: There can be delays to payments as appeals and reassessment hearings can be
evoked.
Step 46
Regional Asset Recovery Team transfers monies to PO Ltd.
Step 47
Financial Investigator updates JARD with case details.
Step 48
Close case and update file with appropriate details.
Step 49
Notify stakeholders of outcome and close case. (i.e. Memorandum to Senior
Security Manager, Security Investigation Team, CWT, PO Ltd Criminal
Investigation Team)
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Security & Investigation Criminal Debt Recovery Process < £20K
Step 1
Receive and review case details from the ‘Casework Team’ (CWT). The
information is received by the Security Programme Managers. (i.e. Currently
Lisa Allen / Jason Collins) Unlike the Fl’s, this team deal more with the
investigation into the offence. (i.e. As opposed to the criminal recovery).
Step 2
Allocate case to Investigator.
Step 3
Interview suspect / offender. (i.e. To ascertain details of incident).
Step 4
Complete ‘Suspect Offender Report’ (i.e. With offender's details, summary of
the facts) and ‘Financial Evaluation Sheet’ (FES) (i.e. With a brief
assessment of the offender's financial details).
Step 5
E-mail to Fls within 48 hours of interview with suspect / offender.
Step 6
Assess crime and potential recovery. (i.e. Has the offender admitted to an
offence? What are the losses?, What assets does the offender have?).
Step 7
Allocate case to Fl?
Step 8
If no at step 7, (i.e The offender is insolvent or has limited assets. As a
consequence there is little or no potential to recovery losses) e-mail CWT
with appropriate reasons. (i.e. Case will no longer be pursued)
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If yes, at step 7, go to process step 3 for losses >20K.
ENDS
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