ABSTRACT
On an initial review of the Criminal Finances Act (CFA) 2017, one could be forgiven for thinking that the high-water mark of the changes are the new unexplained wealth orders and the new corporate offence. The extension of powers under the CFA 2017 not only ensures consistency between enforcement authorities in the United Kingdom but suggests that the use of non-conviction-based confiscation powers will only increase in the future. The power to commence a civil recovery investigation and proceedings in the High Court is also conferred on the Financial Conduct Authority, by virtue of section 20 CFA 2017. An impediment to civil forfeiture could particularly arise where proceeds were obtained through or derived from human rights abuse and yet, in the country in which the abuse took place, the conduct was legal, considered justified or ‘state-sanctioned’ by the government in power.
