UK Offence Report

Concealing or transferring proceeds of criminal conduct

article 5(2) of The Criminal Justice (Confiscation) (Northern Ireland) Order 1993

This offence was read from the text as made, and no revised version was available, so a later revocation could not be ruled out. Check the current text at legislation.gov.uk.

What the provision says

2 After Article

30 of the principal Order there shall be inserted— Tipping-off 30A

1 A person is guilty of an offence if—

a he knows or suspects that

a constable is acting, or is proposing to act, in connection with an investigation which is being, or is about to be, conducted into money laundering, and

b he discloses to any other person information or any other matter which is likely to prejudice that investigation, or proposed investigation.

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds
a person
Conduct
breaching the provision
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
Legal burden on the defendant

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (knows or suspects that).

The provision gives a defence the defendant must prove, on the balance of probabilities. A legal burden of that kind can be read down to a merely evidential one under section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998 where placing it on the defendant would be disproportionate (R v Lambert [2001] UKHL 37; Sheldrake v DPP [2004] UKHL 43).

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: knows or suspects that.

The defence, as drafted

st a person for an offence under paragraph (1), (2) or (3), it is a defence to prove that he did not know or suspect that the disclosure was likely to be prejudicial in the way mentioned in that paragraph. 7 In this Article “money laundering” has the same meaning as in Article 28A. 8 A person guilty of an offence under this Article shall be l

What would breach article 5(2)?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

  1. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Criminal Justice (Confiscation) (Northern Ireland) Order 1993.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined
Maximum prison (on indictment)
6 months

expressed as the statutory maximum (the prescribed sum): the same words mean £5,000 in England and Wales and £10,000 in Scotland.

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
16 December 1993
In force from
Not determined
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: read from the text as made; no revised version available, so later revocation could not be ruled out.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order is made only for purposes corresponding to those of sections 16, 18 and 29 to 32 of the Criminal Justice Act 1993. The principal provisions of the Order— a create offences— i of failing to disclose to a constable, as soon as reasonably practicable, knowledge or suspicion that another person is engaged in money laundering proceeds of drug trafficking, where that knowledge or suspicion is gained in the course of a person’s employment; ii of disclosing information likely to prejudice an investigation into money laundering proceeds of criminal conduct, knowing or suspecting that an investigation is being or is about to be carried out, or that a disclosure has been made to a constable; and iii of acquiring, possessing or using any property knowing that it is or represents another person’s proceeds of criminal conduct; b extend the offences— i of assisting another to retain or use another’s proceeds of drug trafficking knowing or suspecting that the other person is or has been engaged in or has benefited from drug trafficking; and ii of concealing or transferring the proceeds of drug trafficking whether one’s own or another person’s for the purpose of avoiding prosecution or the making or enforcing of a confiscation order, to other criminal conduct.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

Other offences in the same instrument

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”
Confidence
0.92 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source