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<p>Although no assets have been repatriated since 1 January 2014, there are a number
of ongoing investigations and the UK authorities are assisting a number of overseas
jurisdictions in their continuing efforts to recover criminal <br>funds. In 2011,
the EU adopted restrictive measures in view of the situations in Libya, Tunisia and
Egypt, including an asset freeze on funds and economic resources owned or controlled
by designated persons and entities. These <br>measures are implemented by EU Regulations,
which have direct effect in the UK and are separate to those which enable the UK to
restrain funds domestically for criminal or civil confiscation under the Proceeds
of Crime Act. <br><br>HM Treasury publishes the names of those subject to such EU
financial sanctions on the Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions Targets in the
UK, which can be found on gov.uk. HM Treasury is unable to publicly release information
about <br>assets frozen in the UK or EU belonging to particular individuals due to
restrictions imposed by EU and domestic law, both under sanctions and data protection
legislation, as well as for reasons of confidentiality. <br><br>The Serious Crime
Bill will implement one of the key recommendations of the policy review undertaken
by the Asset Recovery Task Force, by lowering the legal test required to secure a
restraint order to freeze assets. Other <br>recommendations of the review are to be
delivered through the recently published UK Anti-Corruption Plan. These include the
creation of a new central Bribery and Corruption Unit, bringing together resources
from the National <br>Crime Agency and those of the Metropolitan Police’s Proceeds
of Corruption Unit, and the review of the Suspicious Activity Report regime</p><p>
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