UK Offence Report

Making funds or economic resources available to a designated person

regulation 4(3) of The Al-Qaida and Taliban (Asset-Freezing) Regulations 2010 (revoked)

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

3 It is an offence for

a person to contravene the prohibition in paragraph (1)(b) knowing, or having reasonable cause to suspect—

a that the economic resources were being made available (directly or indirectly) to or for the benefit of

a designated person; and

b that the designated person would be likely to exchange the economic resources, or use them in exchange, for funds, goods or services.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
dealing with funds or making them available in breach of sanctions
Fault element
Objective fault
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened and that it fell below the standard the provision sets. That is an objective test - what a reasonable person in the same position would have done, not what this defendant actually thought.

What a person personally believed or intended is not the question; the standard is what was reasonable.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: objective standard in the offence-creating words: reasonable cause to suspect.

What would breach regulation 4(3)?

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. Moving, converting or paying away funds that belong to a designated person under the Al-Qaida and Taliban (Asset-Freezing) Regulations 2010, without a licence from the Treasury.
  2. Making funds or economic resources available to a designated person - which includes paying a third party who will pass on the benefit.
  3. Dealing with an asset in ignorance of the designation is still caught where the provision imposes no knowledge requirement; check the fault element stated below before assuming otherwise.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

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
7 April 2010
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 Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations make provision relating to the enforcement of Council Regulation (E.C) No 881/2002 of 27 May 2002 (O.J. L 139, 29.5.2002, p.9) (“the Council Regulation”) which relate to restrictive measures directed at certain persons and entities associated with Usama bin Laden, the Al-Qaida network and the Taliban. The measures include the freezing of funds, financial assets and economic resources of such persons and ensuring that any funds, financial assets and economic resources are not made available to them. Regulation 2 defines designated persons as any person named in Annex I to the Council Regulation (as amended from time to time). Regulations 3 and 4 provide that an offence is committed where a person contravenes prohibitions against dealing with funds and economic resources belonging to designated persons and against making funds or economic resources available, directly or indirectly, to or for the benefit of designated persons. Regulation 5 provides for an offence not to be committed where exceptions to the prohibitions are provided by the Council Regulation. These permit the crediting of frozen accounts with interest and payments due under contracts and obligations entered into before the account became frozen, and permit a relevant institution to credit a frozen account with funds transferred to it. Regulation 6 provides that it is an offence to circumvent the prohibitions. Regulation 7 provides a licensing procedure to enable funds and economic resources to be exempted from the prohibitions. Regulations 9 to 11 contain provisions about penalties, proceedings and who, in relation to bodies corporate and other bodies, may be prosecuted for an offence under the Regulations. Regulation 13 provides that the provisions of the Regulations apply to the Crown but, in the event of a contravention, the Crown is not criminally liable. Schedule 1 provides powers for the Treasury to obtain and disclose information. Schedule 2 amends section 63 of the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008 (c.28) so that a person affected by a decision made by the Treasury in connection with the exercise of their functions under these Regulations may apply to the court to have the decision set aside. Amendments are made to certain provisions in the Al-Qa’ida and Taliban (United Nations Measures) Order 2002 (S.I. 2002/111) and the Al-Qa’ida and Taliban (United Nations Measures) (Amendment) Order 2002 (S.I. 2002/251) is revoked. These amendments and revocation replicate those made by the Al-Qaida and Taliban (United Nations Measures) Order 2006 (S.I. 2006/2952). This Order was quashed by the Supreme Court on 4 February 2010 in the case of Her Majesty’s Treasury v Mohammed Jabar Ahmed and others [2010] UKSC 2, and is formally revoked by these Regulations. A list of designated persons is available on the Internet at: www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/documents/fin_sanctions_index An impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business may be obtained from the Asset Freezing Unit, HM Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London SW1A 2HQ and is also available on HM Treasury’s website (www.hm-treasury.gov.uk) and is annexed to the Explanatory Memorandum which is available alongside the instrument on the OPSI website (www.opsi.gov.uk).

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 0.90.

Basis
the provision says “it is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.90 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