R (Merida Oil Traders Ltd) v Central Criminal Court and Others, R (Bunnvale Ltd, Ticom Management LLC) v Central Criminal Court and Others, Commissioner of Police for The City of London, Interested Party

Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court), Lord Justice Gross, Mr Justice Leggatt, 14 March; 11 April 2017

Suspected criminal funds - Funds converted into cheques at police request - Ex parte application for order requiring production of cheques - Cheques seized as cash - Proceedings for cash forfeiture - Non-disclosure - Abuse of power - Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, sections 294 and 345

The claimants traded in energy derivative contracts via accounts held with a broker. The broker decided to close the accounts and sought consent from the National Crime Agency to transfer the closing balances. Consent was refused, meaning the accounts were effectively frozen. Officers of the City of London police, who were pursuing a money laundering investigation, suspected that the closing balances were the proceeds of crime. They decided to seize the funds. Rather than seek a restraint order in support of the criminal investigation (or take steps to obtain a property freezing order over the funds with a view to an order for civil recovery), the plan was to convert the funds into cheques which could then be seized as "cash" under section 294 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 ("POCA") (cheques count as "cash" – see section 289(6)). Once seized, the cash could be detained by the Magistrates' Court and in due course forfeited under the summary procedure available under Part 5 of POCA.