Assets Recovery Agency freezes over £300,000 in mortgage fraud and contraband cigarette case
The Assets Recovery Agency has been granted a Property Freezing Order over assets estimated to be worth in the region of £312,500 held by Mr Rimas Butkus, Ms Dangira Jankauskaite and Ms Neringa Jankuaskaite. The Agency contends that the respondents acquired expensive cars and seven properties in the E16 area of London with funds that are incompatible with their legitimate income.
(Media-Newswire.com) - The Assets Recovery Agency has been granted a Property Freezing Order over assets estimated to be worth in the region of £312,500 held by Mr Rimas Butkus, Ms Dangira Jankauskaite and Ms Neringa Jankuaskaite.
The Agency contends that the respondents acquired expensive cars and seven properties in the E16 area of London with funds that are incompatible with their legitimate income. The Agency's case is that mortgages have been obtained using false documents and that contraband cigarettes have been sold thus evading excise duty. Mr Butkus is on remand in Lithuania and is awaiting trial for aggravated burglary. He has a criminal record in Lithuania that includes theft.
The case was referred to the Agency by the Metropolitan Police who arrested Mr Butkus as a result of a European arrest warrant. He was subsequently extradited to Lithuania on 22 June 2006. The Agency executed a number of search and seizure warrants on 27 February and removed a quantity of material for further analysis. Assets frozen include seven properties, three Mercedes vehicles and several bank accounts.
Jane Earl, Director of the Agency said, "The Agency will use its unique powers to recover the proceeds of crime firmly and fairly. In this case, significant assets have been acquired which could not have been funded from legitimate income. Mortgage fraud and excise evasion are not victimless crimes - the former can distort local housing markets making it more difficult for hard-working families to buy a home and every pound evaded in excise duty means a pound less to pay for public services."
Notes for Editors:
1. We are not releasing the full addresses of the properties frozen as they are believed to be occupied by bona fide tenants who have no connection to the criminality.
2. The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 created the Assets Recovery Agency and provided completely new powers to allow ARA to seek civil recovery of the proceeds of unlawful activity by an action in the High Court. The Agency can also issue tax assessments where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that there is taxable income, gain or profit from criminal conduct. Property Freezing Orders allow the Agency to continue investigations into a respondent's financial affairs in order to determine whether assets have been acquired through unlawful activity whilst at the same time ensuring that the assets under investigation cannot be dissipated.
3. The Agency is playing its part in the multi-agency approach to deliver the Government's Asset Recovery Strategy. Under the cross government initiative 'Payback', the tracing of and recovery of assets is seen as an important element in the delivery of justice, and sends out a strong deterrent message. The overall aims of the strategy are to make greater use of the investigations of criminal assets in the fight against crime; recover money that has been made from crime or which is intended for use in crime; prevent criminals and their associates from laundering the proceeds of criminal conduct, and detect and penalise such laundering where it occurs; to use the proceeds recovered for the benefit of the community.
4. On 11th January 2007, the Home Office laid a Written Ministerial Statement before Parliament setting out Government proposals to merge the Assets Recovery Agency ( ARA ) with the Serious Organised Crime Agency ( SOCA ), and to extend to prosecutors the power to launch civil recovery action under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. The Written Ministerial Statement can be viewed at http://www.assetsrecovery.gov.uk/AboutARA/. Any proposed merger will require primary legislation. In the meantime ARA will continue to operate as before and use its powers to the full in proceeding with all cases under active litigation as well as adopting new cases from referring agencies in the criminal enforcement community.
Assets Recovery Agency, PO Box 39992 London EC4M 7XQ
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