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418469

	registered interest
	date	11/09/2015
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Company Investigations: Freezing of Assets
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the scope of police powers to freeze company assets encompasses a company domain name; what provisions exists for such a domain name to be renewed if it was frozen during a police investigation; who is permitted to renew such a name where a company under investigation has no access to its assets; and what recourse a company has to regain its domain name if it was lost during the course of a police investigation.
	tabling member constituency	West Lancashire
	tabling member printed	Rosie Cooper
	uin	9975
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/09/2015 answer text <p>The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 permits an application for a restraint order to be made to “freeze” the property of an alleged offender and has the effect of freezing realisable property that may be liable to a later confiscation order. The Act defines realisable property as any free property held by the defendant including any intangible or incorporeal property. The intellectual property rights in a domain name could fall within this definition and so a restraint order would be available. A company is a separate legal entity to its shareholders and directors and so a restraint order against realisable property held by a company would only be available where the alleged offender was that company. The terms of the restraint order prevent the alleged offender from dealing with their realisable property. Whilst property is under restraint, the judge may, depending on the circumstances of the case, exempt property which is required for legitimate business purposes to enable a person to carry on any trade, profession or occupation, for example, to enable continued use of a domain name.</p> answering member constituency Hemel Hempstead answering member printed Mike Penning question first answered 17/09/2015 11:27:11 answering member 1528 label Biography information for Sir Mike Penning
	tabling member	1538 label Biography information for Rosie Cooper

418471

	registered interest
	date	11/09/2015
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Company Investigations: Freezing of Assets
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether Sussex Police are required to freeze the assets of a company they are investigating; on what grounds police may freeze the assets of a company they are investigating; and at what point such assets may be unfrozen if police bail has expired and no charges have been brought.
	tabling member constituency	West Lancashire
	tabling member printed	Rosie Cooper
	uin	9976
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/09/2015 answer text <p>The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 permits an application for a restraint order to be made to “freeze” assets of an alleged offender, which includes a company, if there is reasonable cause to suspect that an offender has benefitted from their criminal conduct. A restraint order has the effect of freezing property that may be liable to confiscation following a trial and the subsequent making of a confiscation order. There is no legal requirement for a police force to freeze the assets of a company they are investigating, although it is good practice to do so in cases in which assets need to be preserved for confiscation at a later date. A restraint order may be made by a Crown Court if any of the following conditions are satisfied:</p><p>(1) A criminal investigation has been started in England and Wales and there is reasonable grounds to suspect that the alleged offender has benefitted from criminal conduct</p><p>(2) Proceedings for an offence have been commenced in England and Wales and not concluded and there is reasonable grounds to believe that an alleged offender has benefitted from criminal conduct.</p><p>In addition to the statutory conditions, there must be a real risk that the assets will be dissipated.</p><p>A restraint order can be varied or discharged upon application by a person affected by the order. The Proceeds of Crime Act also provides that the court is required to discharge any restraint order at the conclusion of proceedings. If an order is made under condition (1) above, the court is also required to monitor progress with the investigation, and if a decision to charge is not made within a reasonable time, the court may discharge the restraint order.</p> answering member constituency Hemel Hempstead answering member printed Mike Penning question first answered 16/09/2015 12:20:37 answering member 1528 label Biography information for Sir Mike Penning
	tabling member	1538 label Biography information for Rosie Cooper