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Lord Bassam of Brighton: The noble Lord speaks from great experience on these matters. I am grateful to him for raising the question. He will probably have anticipated the response; that is, that the matter will be for the director to determine at the time. No doubt operational pressures will impact on his decision as regards whether it is appropriate to change pseudonyms from time to time. In my efforts to be brief I failed to congratulate the noble Lord on pursuing the point. I put on record our gratitude for the noble Lord's original intentions in bringing forward the relevant amendment. I am glad that we have satisfied his concerns.
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Lord Rooker moved Amendment No. 292AA:
- After Clause 442, insert the following new clause—
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Lord Rooker moved Amendment No. 292B:
The noble Lord said: This large tranche of government amendments are to a certain extent purely technical and therefore I shall not go over the details. However, it is easy for Ministers to say that measures are technical or drafting and then sit down. However, in this case I should point out that there is a small policy element to them in that the definitions of a money laundering offence as employed in Parts 2 and 4 of the Bill no longer include the offence of acquiring, using or possessing criminal property.
In one or two cases, Schedule 8 makes certain powers available under other legislation in relation to a "money laundering offence". Therefore, we have had to consider whether we should continue to employ the old definition of a money laundering offence, including the acquisition offence, in these contexts, or the new one now found in the criminal lifestyle schedule.
Paragraph 17 of Schedule 8 amends the Criminal Justice Act 1988 to give customs the power to arrest bail absconders pursuant to certain criminal offences, including money laundering offences, while paragraph 18 amends the Extradition Act 1989 to make extradition available under the 1988 Vienna drug trafficking convention in relation to money laundering offences.
We have decided that in both cases the old definition of money laundering should apply. While the acquisition offence is too broad to be regarded as an offence which is always a criminal lifestyle offence, it remains a serious offence, carrying a maximum penalty of 14 years' imprisonment or an unlimited fine.
In the case of the Extradition Act amendment, it is also relevant that our implementation of the 1988 convention covers the acquisition offence. We would therefore expect to provide assistance in relation to that offence.
In both cases, similar consequential amendments are already found in the current confiscation legislation and the present amendments secure that they basically remain unchanged. I beg to move.
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Lord Rooker moved Amendments Nos. 292C to 292W:
On Question, amendments agreed to.
Schedule 8, as amended, agreed to.
Schedule 9 [Repeals and revocations]:
"PSEUDONYMS: SCOTLAND
(1) This section applies to—
(a) any person named by the Scottish Ministers for the purpose of a civil recovery investigation under Part 8, or
(b) any person authorised by the Scottish Ministers for the purpose of such a civil recovery investigation to receive relevant information under section 385,
if it is necessary or expedient for the person to identify himself by name for that purpose.
(2) The Scottish Ministers may direct that such a person may for that purpose identify himself by means of a pseudonym.
(3) For the purposes of any proceedings or application under this Act, a certificate signed by the Scottish Ministers which sufficiently identifies the person by reference to the pseudonym is conclusive evidence that the person is authorised to use the pseudonym.
(4) In any proceedings or application under this Act a person in respect of whom a direction under this section is in force must not be asked (and if asked is not required to answer) any question which is likely to reveal his true identity."
Page 281, line 29, leave out from "which" to end of line 31 and insert "is specified in—
(a) paragraph 1 of Schedule (Lifestyle offences) to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (drug trafficking offences), or
(b) so far as it relates to that paragraph, paragraph 9 of that Schedule."
6.30 p.m.
Page 284, line 26, leave out from "which" to end of line 28 and insert "is specified in paragraph 1 of Schedule (Lifestyle offences) to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (drug trafficking offences)."
Page 287, leave out lines 32 and 33 and insert "is specified in—
(a) paragraph 1 of Schedule (Lifestyle offences) to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (drug trafficking offences), or
(b) so far as it relates to that paragraph, paragraph 9 of that Schedule."
Page 287, line 36, leave out "89" and insert "409"
Page 287, line 37, leave out "2" and insert "8"
Page 287, line 39, leave out from "which" to end of line 41 and insert "is specified in—
(a) paragraph 1 of Schedule (Lifestyle offences: Northern Ireland) to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (drug trafficking offences), or
(b) so far as it relates to that paragraph, paragraph 9 of that Schedule;"
Page 288, line 4, leave out from "which" to end of line 7 and insert "is specified in—
(a) paragraph 1 of Schedule (Lifestyle offences) to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (drug trafficking offences), or
(b) so far as it relates to that paragraph, paragraph 9 of that Schedule."
Page 288, line 8, leave out "89" and insert "409"
Page 288, line 10, leave out "2" and insert "8"
Page 288, line 13, leave out from "which" to end of line 16 and insert "is specified in—
(a) paragraph 2 of Schedule (Lifestyle Offences: Scotland) to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, or
(b) so far as it relates to that paragraph, paragraph 9 of that Schedule."
Page 288, line 17, leave out "158" and insert "409"
Page 288, line 19, leave out "3" and insert "8"
Page 288, line 23, leave out from "which" to "and" in line 26 and insert "is specified in—
(a) paragraph 1 of Schedule (Lifestyle offences: Northern Ireland) to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (drug trafficking offences), or
(b) so far as it relates to that paragraph, paragraph 9 of that Schedule."
Page 288, line 27, leave out "243" and insert "409"
Page 288, line 29, leave out "4" and insert "8"
Page 288, line 34, leave out from "which" to end of line 36 and insert "is specified in—
(a) paragraph 1 of Schedule (Lifestyle offences) to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (drug trafficking offences), or
(b) so far as it relates to that paragraph, paragraph 9 of that Schedule."
Page 288, line 37, leave out "89" and insert "409"
Page 288, line 39, leave out "2" and insert "8"
Page 288, line 41, leave out from "which" to end of line 43 and insert "is specified in—
(a) paragraph 2 of Schedule (Lifestyle Offences: Scotland) to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, or
(b) so far as it relates to that paragraph, paragraph 9 of that Schedule."
Page 288, line 44, leave out "158" and insert "409"
Page 288, line 46, leave out "3" and insert "8"
Page 288, line 48, leave out from "which" to end of line 50 and insert "is specified in—
(a) paragraph 1 of Schedule (Lifestyle offences: Northern Ireland) to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (drug trafficking offences), or
(b) so far as it relates to that paragraph, paragraph 9 of that Schedule;"
Page 289, line 1, leave out "243" and insert "409"
Page 289, line 3, leave out "4" and insert "8"
Page 289, line 32, leave out from "which" to end of line 34 and insert "is specified in paragraph 1 of Schedule (Lifestyle offences: Northern Ireland) to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (drug trafficking offences);"
Page 294, line 15, leave out "157 or 242 of" and insert "or 242 of, or paragraph 2 or (so far as it relates to that paragraph) paragraph 9 of Schedule (Lifestyle Offences: Scotland) to"
Page 298, line 12, leave out from "offence)" to end of line 18 and insert "for the definition of "drug trafficking offence" there is substituted—
""drug trafficking offence" means an offence which is specified in—
(a) paragraph 1 of Schedule (Lifestyle offences) to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (drug trafficking offences), or
(b) so far as it relates to that paragraph, paragraph 9 of that Schedule."
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