Civil Asset recovery - Jersey powers and recent actions?
This article considers recent Jersey cases in which the Government acted to confiscate funds placed by corrupt individuals in Jersey and actions to repatriate funds overseas. The Law Officer’s Department has taken swift recent action.
Recent Cases
£230,000 has been returned by Jersey for the people of Thailand after Thai nationals took bribes to award contracts in Thailand. This demonstrates Jersey's strong use of local civil asset recovery laws. This follows £829,500 being returned to Mozambique in May 2024 after a corrupt Mozambican national accepted payments during employment in Mozambique. And in Feb 2024 over £2 million was returned to Nigeria to finance a Nigerian infrastructure project after the confiscation of funds controlled by a senior figure in the Abacha regime.
Civil Asset Recovery Laws
The Civil Asset Recovery (International Co-operation) (Jersey) Law 2007 (the Law) is one of the key laws enabling Jersey to play its part in the forfeiture of the proceeds of crime and unlawful conduct. This Law enables assets to be removed in Jersey’s civil court system without a criminal conviction, on the balance of probabilities that the assets in question represent the proceeds of crime, or of unlawful conduct.
More recently, the Forfeiture of Assets (Civil Proceedings) (Jersey) Law 2018 (the “Forfeiture Law”) introduced a civil forfeiture regime for Jersey by replacing and extending the current Proceeds of Crime (Cash Seizure) (Jersey) Law 2008 (the “Cash Seizure Law”) to create a civil forfeiture procedure that would apply to both cash and property held in bank accounts.
Thailand case - Key learnings
Jersey’s Government is prioritising enforcement against civil assets in Jersey structures. However it can take some time for success to be realised.
This matter commenced in December 2007, when the Attorney General received a Letter of Request from the United States authorities in respect of the US criminal investigation regarding US nationals paying bribes to Thai nationals (one a former Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand) and her daughter. The concern was that bribes were paid in exchange for lucrative contracts to run the Bangkok International Film Festival and other projects, between 2003 and 2007.
Some of the payments were traced to a Jersey bank account and following the request of the US authorities, the Attorney General was granted a saisie judiciaire over the Jersey assets in 2008.
In 2009, the United States won a conviction for money laundering and bribery, and in 2017, the Thai nationals were convicted in Thailand for their roles. In parallel, US authorities also filed a civil forfeiture proceeding against the Thai national’s assets, including the Jersey-based account. The US obtained a civil forfeiture order and thereafter issued a request for mutual legal assistance, seeking registration and enforcement, in the Royal Court of Jersey, of that judgment.
In March 2022, the Royal Court discharged the saisie and granted a Property Restraint Order over the assets in the Jersey bank account. Then in August 2023, the Attorney General was successful for the registration of the US Judgment in the Royal Court in Jersey. This enabled the funds to be transferred to the Civil Recovery Fund and then repatriated in due course.
Careful attention needs to be paid by financial services businesses to their clients and the source of funds. For example, in this case should the institution have considered that the amount of funds deposited were unusual? Why were they being paid from Thailand to Jersey? Was the person placing the funds acting in keeping with a person holding that position? Where doubt is held then it is appropriate to review the facts and gain more evidence.
This briefing is not legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. If you need advice in relation to prospective litigation, or on any of the matters raised in this briefing, please contact James Mews, Managing Partner, Amati Law.
For more information, contact us via info@amatilaw.com