Written question asked by Owen Paterson (Conservative) on Wednesday, 10 December 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 15 December 2008. It was answered by Alan Campbell (Labour) on Tuesday, 13 January 2009 on behalf of the Home Office.

Assets Recovery Agency

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases were under investigation by the Assets Recovery Agency at 31 March 2008 with a view to criminal confiscation where no action had been taken to restrain assets; what the estimated value of the assets under investigation in those cases was; how many of those investigations were subsequently terminated by the Serious and Organised Crime Agency without court action; what the reasons for termination was in each case; what the estimated value of the assets in the cases terminated was; and what steps have been taken to ensure that the relevant assets do not remain in the hands of criminals in those cases terminated without court action in (a) Northern Ireland and (b) the UK.

Answer: Data relating to the transfer of cases from the Assets Recovery Agency to the Serous Organised Crime Agency was not collated to this level of detail, as there would be no operational value and some cost in doing so. This information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost (through manual collation from case files).

Secondary information