Monday, May 14, 2012

'Bonus Starved' Crown Office staff claim £10.5 million seized from crooks, while court officials refuse to say how much has actually been paid back

What Price Justice Sunday Mail 18 December 2011Crown Office staff lacking the usual big bonus payouts have turned to seizing more of crooks cash. WHILE Scotland’s Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) battle headline after headline of collapsed prosecutions & failed investigations, allegations of corruption, evidence fiddling, racism, professional bias and poor value for money over it’s near ONE HUNDRED MILLION POUND administration & wages cost,  a glimmer of light has emerged in it’s efforts to raise the amounts of cash ‘seized’ from crooks in the last financial year to around £10.5 million, according to figures announced yesterday by the Solicitor General. with £7 million coming from convicted drug dealers, money launderers and fraudsters while the Civil Recovery Unit claims to have recovered over £3.5 million during the same period.

In announcement from the Crown Office reporting this year's POCA figures, Lesley Thomson, the Solicitor General said : "Taking over £10.5 million from criminals is another great achievement by our dedicated Proceeds of Crime teams. "Just as important as the sum recovered is the disruption caused to individual criminals and serious and organised crime groups in Scotland. "Depriving criminals of their money and assets can significantly disrupt their activities, prevent them from re-investing their profits, and make it difficult for them to carry out their criminal enterprises. When the money and assets go so does the status and power.

The Solicitor General continued : "There is no place in Scotland for those who want a lifestyle funded by crime. We will continue to work closely with law enforcement agencies to use Proceeds of Crime laws to make Scotland an increasingly hostile place for these criminals. "I also welcome today's publication of the Civil Recovery Unit's second Annual Report which provides further information about its activities over the past year."

Campaigners for legal reform have serious doubts over the credibility of Crown Office claims they pursue those who profit from criminal activities, pointing out that in cases where solicitors have financially ruined their clients and when matters were reported to the Crown Office, charges were dropped because of a perceived bias that Scotland’s prosecutors were refusing to prosecute their colleagues in the legal profession. In one recent case reported by Diary of Injustice & the Sunday Mail newspaper, a lawyer who was the subject of reports to the Crown Office, ‘moved escaped to Italy’ while the Law Society of Scotland dithered over taking further action. It later transpired the Crown Office had REFUSED to prosecute the lawyer even though matters had been reported to it’s Procurator Fiscal in Stirling.

Another equally serious issue of Crown Office failure was revealed in a Diary of Injustice investigation where Freedom of Information legislation revealed the Lord Advocate & prosecutors at the Crown Office had allowed FOURTEEN solicitors to escape charges for millions of pounds of legal aid fraud. More on this story can be read here : FOURTEEN lawyers accused of multi-million pound legal aid fraud escape justice as Scotland’s Crown Office fail to prosecute all cases in 5 years

Other than the almost accidental recovery of funds from now deceased solicitor James Muir, who stole a staggering 1.8 million pounds of legal aid from right under the noses of the Scottish Legal Aid Board, officials were unwilling to give figures for the remaining 13 solicitors apparently successful theft of taxpayer funded legal aid.

The investigation into the Crown Office and legal aid fraud carried out by Diary of Injustice also revealed one of the solicitors accused of legal aid fraud was actually married to a Crown Office prosecutor, a fact which the Crown Office deliberately concealed from the public. More on that story can be found here : Admissible Evidence ? Crown Office Prosecutor married to lawyer accused of legal aid fraud, both still working, Legal Aid Board ‘convinced of guilt’

Lindsey Miller, Head of the Serious and Organised Crime Division (SOCD) and the COPFS POCA Champion, said : “The Proceeds of Crime Act is a powerful tool in our armoury in the fight against crime in Scotland. We continue to make maximum use of the legislation to deprive criminals of money and assets. We target people who make money from all types of crime, from serious and organised criminals engaged in money laundering and drug dealing, to individuals committing tax and benefit fraud and immigration offences. We have also applied to the court in a number of cases this year to have administrators appointed to take control of houses where accused have been unable or unwilling to sell them to pay the confiscation order. This sends a strong message that the Crown will not tolerate delay and prevarication in the payment of an order. Our priority is disrupting and dismantling criminal enterprises, and we will continue to work with the police, SCDEA, HMRC and DWP to achieve this aim."

However, Mr Millar and the Crown Office have not answered questions over how much was seized from a Scottish Judge who was charged with Benefits Cheating, and is understood to have remained on the judiciary.

In the case of the Benefits Cheat judge, reported by Diary of Injustice here : ALL THE LORD PRESIDENT’S MEN : Benefits cheats, drunk drivers & tax dodgers, yet identities of convicted Scottish judges to remain secret for now the Crown Office protected their identity and refused to disclose any further details about the case, even where it was being held, despite COPFS staff regularly putting out Press Releases naming & shaming other benefits cheats.

The Crown Office have also still to answer questions over why no confiscation orders have been served on a solicitor, recently reported in the media to have committed mortgage fraud to obtain properties in Edinburgh.

A detailed investigation into the case of the solicitor falsely claiming a higher salary to obtain a morgate revealed the Crown Office had blundered and not even picked up on details published on the Scottish Solicitors Discipline Tribunal of the solicitor’s mortgage fraud, more on which can be read here : Law Society of Scotland ‘deliberately failed’ to report mortgage fraud solicitor to Crown Office as cosy Tribunal deal allows lawyer to escape justice

Another lawyer who stole 116K from clients also slipped the Crown Office ‘net’, featured in an article here : Lord Advocate Mulholland in the dock as Crown Office dithers over prosecuting yet another CROOKED LAWYER who stole £116K from client accounts

Cabinet Secretary for Justice Kenny MacAskill said : "I welcome this excellent work by police and prosecutors, seizing millions cracking down on gangsters and their ill-gotten gains. Criminals don't contribute to our communities, they live off them and serious organised crime has an impact on everyone in Scotland, harming communities and legitimate businesses through drugs, extortion and counterfeit goods. "That is exactly why cash seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act should be used to benefit communities which have suffered from criminal acts. "Our CashBack for Communities programme invests crooks' cash in building better, safer, stronger communities, improving facilities, taking young people off the streets and putting them on a positive path. We have invested over £45m in providing opportunities for some 600,000 young people to take part in hundreds of thousands of free sports and cultural activities since CashBack began in 2007.

The Justice Secretary continued : "Last year amendments were made to the Proceeds of Crime Act to provide law enforcement agencies with additional powers to target a wider range of criminals and criminal conduct. We are continuing to look at other ways to refine the Act to make it even more effective, and we are working closely with the Home Office to do so. We have also allocated approximately £2 million funding for financial investigators in the police and the Crown Office, to ensure even more criminals are targeted." 

In spite of the Justice Secretary’s fine words over recovering assets from criminals, Mr MacAskill was quick to support Crown Office staff linked to legal aid fraudster solicitors, more of which was featured in an earlier article by Diary of Injustice here : Justice Secretary’s discredited defence for Crown Office in 14 legal aid fraud scandals as links between accused lawyers & Scots crime agencies emerge

The amount recovered by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and the Civil Recovery Unit in the last 12 months brings the total secured since the commencement of the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) in 2003 to over £69 million, which it is claimed has been put to the Scottish Consolidated Fund to be reinvested in Scottish communities via the CashBack for Communities programme.

However, as the Sunday Mail newspaper reports, in spite of the high profile announcement from the Crown Office over this year’s £10.5 million figure of cash seizures from crooks, officials refused to give actual figures as to how much money has actually been paid back. The paper reported : “Officials also admit they don’t know how much of the £10.5million has been paid. The Scottish Court Service said: “We don’t have a breakdown.” 

A regular court observer told Diary of Injustice earlier today : “This now annual show from the Crown Office seems more like a pitch for increased salaries or the return of lavish bonus payments”.

He continued : “If you take into account the high profile failures of prosecutions in the courts, and more case collapses than I’ve had hot dinners, I wouldn't be surprised if a significant proportion of monies recovered from criminals will end up going on court fees, legal fees and lawyers jollies”

39 comments:

Anonymous said...

How do these people walk home at night with all the brown envelopes sticking out their back pockets?

Anonymous said...

Big Fat zero thats whats been paid back.

Anonymous said...

It would be cheaper to pay criminals not to commit the crime.

How much cashback did the Crown Office get from the cop who was selling cocaine/heroin in Edinburgh nightclubs?

Anonymous said...

So they've taken to robbing the crooks to pay their bonuses?lol!

Anonymous said...

RIGGING THE BALLOT : Law Society of Scotland hints it wants key role to set questions & voting papers for Scottish Independence Referendum.
==================================
If this lot gain independence more people will be stripped of rights to protect the criminals in the Scottish Parliament who are really members of the Law Society of Scotland whether they are lawyers or not. It is sinister what this Parliament stand for, it is not democratic when powerful factions control behind the voters backs.

Anonymous said...

The problem here is there will be many lower profile cases caught up in confiscation orders just to boost the numbers and justify statistics.Perhaps a more thorough investigation of how POCA is applied by the CRU will reveal what is really going on.

As for their failure to disclose exactly how much is paid back,they must not be very confident in the true figures otherwise it would have been in the rambling press release typical of the now familiar SNP Scottish Government news format.

Anonymous said...

I saw this on the BBC news website before - all they did was basically take the press release and fail to challenge it,same for the hootsmon.
Good thing the Sunday Mail and yours today bothered to challenge all this bullshit we are being fed by MacBuckfast and his pals.What a classic they failed to tell how much has really been paid back!

Anonymous said...

The cash seizure announcement was made on Sunday to make way for the SNP's minimum pricing of alcohol spin which I'm sure everyone and their dead granny has had enough of today.

Should anyone be surprised the Lord Advocate finds it easy to bend the news to suit his political masters?

Anonymous said...

Good posting about the benefits cheat judge didnt know whether to comment there or here anyway great work exposing judges and these prosecutors for being corrupt!
there must have been a lot of palm greasing to get those 14 lawyers off the hook from fiddling legal aid!
Anyone at the Crown Office get a new house(s) on the cheap lately?!

Anonymous said...

Ha what a joke these are the same people who destroy statistics just before they have to produce them to a Parliament committee.Trust nothing coming out of the Crown Office its pure BS

Anonymous said...

I have to ask where is the Lord Advocate and why did he not make the announcement instead of leaving it to No2,some desk jockey and a famous drunk & disorderly to come up with the usual tosh?

Anonymous said...

These people make the Bankers look like Samaritans.

If the Crown Office costs £100 million a year to run this must be one of the worst returns on an investment ever at £10 million meaning we are getting back about 10 pence in the pound.

Add to that we have the Solicitor General on about £100K a year along with the other lackeys at roughly the same including MacAskill and all the Crown Office/CRU staff and hangers on taking their pound of flesh from our taxes.It's nothing to brag about quite the reverse actually and to think this lot were pocketing half a million in bonuses on top of it all?

Just disgusting.If you were to take a movie of a bunch of pigs stuffing their faces and rolling around in the mud it would be almost the same as the contents of the Crown Office statement.

Anonymous said...

A lot of good detail here and some eyebrow raising stuff about the PFs.Suffice to say this is a Scottish Government statement full of flaws,half truths and lies so don't worry, we get it - the Crown Office are not to be trusted, much like all other taxpayer funded unaccountable closed shop enterprises.

Anonymous said...

Ah comments at last.I was beginning to think people had missed it!

I'll say this Peter you can fair take the wind out of the sails of this bunch of cretins.After reading this latest I am in no doubt the Crown Office are thoroughly corrupt and probably infiltrated by organised crime gangs themselves.

Good one as always.

Anonymous said...

So another exercise in window dressing from the CPS who will never apply The Proceeds of Crime Act to any member of the Law Society of Scotland - Kenny McAskill and the SNP will make sure of that!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

These people make the Bankers look like Samaritans.

If the Crown Office costs £100 million a year to run this must be one of the worst returns on an investment ever at £10 million meaning we are getting back about 10 pence in the pound.

Add to that we have the Solicitor General on about £100K a year along with the other lackeys at roughly the same including MacAskill and all the Crown Office/CRU staff and hangers on taking their pound of flesh from our taxes.It's nothing to brag about quite the reverse actually and to think this lot were pocketing half a million in bonuses on top of it all?

Just disgusting.If you were to take a movie of a bunch of pigs stuffing their faces and rolling around in the mud it would be almost the same as the contents of the Crown Office statement.

14 May 2012 21:12

TOTALLY AGREE BRILLIANTLY PUT!!!!!

Anonymous said...

'Bonus Starved' Crown Office staff claim £10.5 million seized from crooks, while court officials refuse to say how much has actually been paid back.
==================================
Crown Office, a structure of the state that self regulates, the mechanism by which criminality is covered in secrecy.

Anonymous said...

The Solicitor General continued : "There is no place in Scotland for those who want a lifestyle funded by crime.
==================================
But they do not prosecute lawyers, legal aid fraud, stealing from clients, well Solicitor General your legal system is corrupt to the core, oh yes there are criminals out there but lawyer criminals well a different breed they are squeaky clean no matter what they do. I have no faith in lawyers or the grubby MSP's who underpin their power.

Anonymous said...

Yes by the sounds of it we are being ripped off by the Crown Office.

How can anyone justify wasting a hundred million quid a year on this bunch who even the judges say are rubbish at prosecuting.

Anonymous said...

How much cashback did the Crown Office get from the cop who was selling cocaine/heroin in Edinburgh nightclubs?

14 May 2012 17:11

I'd like to know more about this!

Anonymous said...

This was on Google news, good work.

Anonymous said...

From reading this and following some of the links in the story Scotland's prosecution service sounds like its equally as corrupt as the mob or even more so!

Anonymous said...

I am quite simply stunned!

Do these 'actors' really think that anyone believes this bull-shit?

If you cannot provide proof of your bold statements then your bold statements become spurious claims or bold lies?

The Scottish Public do not trust one word that comes out of the Crown Office because they have shown by their actions that they have ZERO credibility.

LOCKERBIE

MCKIE

CHOKAR

WORLD'S END MURDERS

HOLLIE GREIG

The list goes on and on and on and on.......


The money pissed away and damage that the above cases have caused is 100 times nae a 1000 times more than these legal creeps are capable of accruing, notwithstanding the fortunes wasted on salaries for these crooked lawyers, some of whom are so bereft of any modicum of skill that sometimes you think that a 13 year old schoolboy could do better....?

These press plied briefings smack of these crooked Crown Office Lawyers trying to justify their existence?

If all of them had to forced into re-applying for their own jobs, you could count on one hand the number that could remain?

The Crown Office crooked lawyers are likened to your friendly DIY superstore......

They will provide the perfect tool for any job.......?

Anonymous said...

The Crown Office and the Law Society of Scotland are overt criminal organisations.

Anonymous said...

To the person who asked about the drug selling cop in Edinburgh nightclubs the answer is they did not even charge him but they do use him to get convictions with dodgy evidence in cases which would otherwise be tossed out.So now you know.Are you happy?

Anonymous said...

Yes its a pitch for more bonuses poor them getting a hundred grand a year and all those perks while the rest of us starve so they can get it!

Anonymous said...

Just like MP's expenses, the state actors are so good to themselves.

Anonymous said...

RIGGING THE BALLOT : Law Society of Scotland hints it wants key role to set questions & voting papers for Scottish Independence Referendum.
================================
The unelected Scottish Government a faction of criminals who are only interested in promoting the interests of lawyers and their SNP lackeys. We have seen what this factions idea of independent secretive self regulation is about, there is nothing honest about them. All their grannies will be spinning in their graves.

Diary of Injustice said...

16 May 2012 14:21

Noting your comment, please send more details regarding this to scottishlawreporters@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

I agree with those who doubt the figures - clearly the Courts and the Crown Office have different versions of this and the differences are enough to punch a hole in the 10.5m spin.

At any rate this is a puny payback considering how much we are having to pay these civil serpents and then the bonuses which is a really disgusting habit supposedly just for the bankers but now it seems to be anyone & everyone with a bit of power over us.

Anonymous said...

Yes good to see the prosecutors being outed as bigger crooks than those they claim to be putting away.It kind of answers the lingering questions about why no lawyers get sent to jail for all these frauds against their clients!

Anonymous said...

The A4E files: Whistleblowers reveal damning new claims about Back to Work Tsar's job training firm

See

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2111872/Emma-Harrisons-A4e-Damning-claims-Back-Work-Tsars-job-training-firm-revealed.html

Anonymous said...

You must be like a magnet for all these corruption stories involving figures from the legal world.Very handy to know and look forward to seeing more of your work.

Anonymous said...

Well if the Crown Office are knowingly using corrupt cops to secure convictions this is going to be one hell of a scandal! but like most people I dare say I am not surprised in the slightest.This begs the question what have the judges been doing all this time while these things happen?Blissful ignorance my foot more like complicit rulings to keep their pensions going up.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
I have to ask where is the Lord Advocate and why did he not make the announcement instead of leaving it to No2,some desk jockey and a famous drunk & disorderly to come up with the usual tosh?

14 May 2012 19:35
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He was probably in the good old U S of A again visiting his pals at the FBI & CIA, taking further Instructions from them on how to bluff, obfuscate & cast false aspertions on Libya'n nationals to continue to perpetrate the false idea that Libya was involved in the Lockerbie bombing, when of course he knows full well who WAS involved and is continuing to lie to the Scottish Public.

So much for honesty, integrity, impartiality and transparency?

Anonymous said...

The Clown Office bunch are a criminal organisation who act above the law.

They have blood on their hands and our cash in their pockets with their piggy snouts in the rich gravy slurping and burping away serving their dark actors.....

Anonymous said...

Further proof that the Lord Advocate is a criminal who acts as if he is above the law. The Lord Advocate is supposed to be above scrutiny, have a character beyond reproach, be impartial at all times and act in the interest of the Scottish Public at all times?

Expert legal commentators have reached the conclusion that the Lord Advocate is acting contrary to the Scottish Public's Interest and is a dishonest fellow working for a dishonest Crown Office, which has long since abandoned the principles of honesty, integrity and impartiality and have adopted a quasi political role in Scotland but where they serve the interest of a few to the detriment of the Scottish Public as a whole?

Louise said...

The whole amount for the James Muir case was paid back. I also think this case was handles horribly and ended with the loss of a father of three.

Diary of Injustice said...

# Louise @ 5 February 2013 18:56

So who is to blame for the theft, and the death, in your opinion ?