Unexplained Wealth Orders, What You Can Do If One Lands On You

With the first Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWO's) having been issued by the National Crime Agency, Aziz Rahman explains what to do if you are the subject of a UWO.

The National Crime Agency announced on 28th February that it had secured UWO's on two properties valued at £22M, whose ultimate owner was a "politically exposed person". The FT reported that the PEP was a politician from central Asia. The properties are also subject to interim freezing orders, to prevent them being sold or transferred. Their owner is believed to be from a country belonging to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS); which consists of ten former Soviet republics as well as Georgia and Azerbaijan.

In announcing the UK's first two UWO's, the NCA's Director for Economic Crime, Donald Toon, said: "Unexplained wealth orders have the potential to significantly reduce the appeal of the UK as a destination for illicit income. They enable the UK to more effectively target the problem of money laundering through prime real estate in London and elsewhere.''

The fact that the NCA has only taken a month to issue its first UWO's indicates that it has been doing its research well in advance of being able to use the new tool at its disposal. This is to be compared with the SFO whose Director, David Green, recently warned not to expect a flood of UWO's and emphasised that the SFO would take its time to pick the right case, as corruption cases have high costs and make slow progress.

The NCA's recent result shows they do not share the SFO's apparent lack of enthusiasm. Land Registry records suggest that 40,000 properties in the capital are now owned by secretive offshore companies. Transparency International says it has identified UK property worth a total of £4.4 billion that should be subject to UWOs.

But what exactly are UWO's? And what purpose do they serve?

UWO's were introduced by the Criminal Finances Act 2017. Section 1 had the effect of heavily amending the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) to introduce these new orders. The relevant provisions came into force only on 31st January this year. A UWO can be obtained by the NCA, the Serious Fraud Office, the Crown Prosecution Service, HM Revenue and Customs or the Financial Conduct Authority.

Applications are made without notice to the High Court. The Order requires the target to provide information about how a particular asset, say a big house in Mayfair, was acquired. Such orders will usually be accompanied with a...