Dirty assets workshop

The first of three workshops designed to bring together key stakeholders from policy, practice, and research backgrounds to explore emerging issues surrounding criminal and/or terrorist assets.

Alongside conventional policing responses to organised crime and corruption, there is an increasing focus on the accumulated financial assets of those engaged in criminal activity, as embodied in the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. Following the financial trails of terrorists has gained prominence post-9/11. The approaches are set out in a range of legislation (the Terrorism Act 2000, the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001, and the Terrorist Asset Freezing etc Act 2010) and involve an emphasis on intelligence gathering as much as the negation of the value of criminal enterprise.

The AHRC has funded a series of three workshops, the first of which will be in October 2014, designed to bring together in a network key stakeholders from policy, practice, and research backgrounds to explore emerging issues surrounding criminal and/or terrorist assets.

Abstract

The first workshop in this series is ideally timed, following reports from the National Audit Office (December 2013) and the Public Accounts Committee (March 2014) - both of which were critical of the confiscation regime. This workshop will bring together policymakers, practitioners and researchers to discuss the impact of the legal responses to ‘dirty assets’. Discussions will centre on a number of key issues, including:

• How do we measure the success of the responsive regime?
• What are the main difficulties and/ or opportunities in institutional or operational forms facing law enforcement agencies when putting into place an anti-assets strategy?
• How should recovered assets be disposed of? 
• How does terrorist financing affect informal means of money transfer?
• How can terrorism financing be choked without damaging legitimate charitable and humanitarian objectives?

Enriched by a decade of experience from the enactment of the Proceeds of Crime Act and the equivalents against terrorism financing, this network offers an important forum to take stock and consider these questions in light of experiences over the past decade. It equally offers the ideal setting to consider future policy and research directions, informed by the needs of policymakers and practitioners.

The co-organisers of the AHRC series are Dr Colin King (Manchester) and Professor Clive Walker (Leeds).

Speakers

Confirmed speakers for this workshop include:

• Professor Peter Alldridge, Queen Mary, University of London
• Peter Clarke, Charity Commission for England and Wales
• Karen Clubb, University of Derby
• Dr Mo Egan, University of Abertay Dundee
• Fiona Jackson, 33 Chancery Lane
• Professor Jimmy Gurulé, University of Notre Dame
• Dr Radha Ivory, University of Queensland
• Professor Valsamis Mitsilegas, Queen Mary, University of London
• Michelle Russell, Charity Commission for England and Wales
• Professor Barbara Vettori, Catholic University, Milan
• Assistant Chief Constable Ian Wiggett, Greater Manchester Police

The venue of the first workshop is The University of Manchester - exact location to be confirmed.

A limited number of places are available free of charge.

Contacts

For further information contact:

Dr Colin King, University of Manchester
Email: colin.king@manchester.ac.uk

Professor Clive Walker, University of Leeds
Email: law6cw@leeds.ac.uk

Location Details

University of Manchester