Obtaining confiscation orders to strip criminals of their illegal gains can be relatively easy – but enforcing them is another matter. In one case, a tax cheat still owed £1.16 million over a decade after his conviction, despite owning and living in a £1.5 million flat in a Swiss skiing resort.
The man was jailed for four and a half years in 2001 for cheating the public revenue. He received a £1,678,954 confiscation order in 2003 but £1,163,054 of that was still outstanding. He was sentenced to a further 12 months' imprisonment for contempt of court in 2009 and a warrant for his arrest was issued in 2011.
However, he had by then fled the country for Switzerland and had not returned to the UK for fear of arrest. He did not attend a High Court hearing at which it was argued on his behalf that the order should be treated as paid in full. He also complained about the substantial costs incurred by a receiver whose task it was to enforce the order.
However, the Court found no substance in any of his arguments. Given the value of his Swiss home, there was no question of him being unable to pay the balance of the order. He had fought tooth and nail to escape his debt to society and it was clear that he was wholly unrepentant. The Court refused to reduce or expunge any part of the debt or to direct the receiver’s discharge.