Rick Brown

Overseas financial investigation of organised crime

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the problems that arise when undertaking a financial investigation that involves tracing assets in foreign jurisdictions. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on a secondary analysis of data collected as part of a qualitative study of the role of financial investigation in tackling organised crime. This was based on interviews with investigating officers, financial investigators and Crown Prosecution Service representatives associated with 60 cases. Of the 60 cases, 36 were found to have an international dimension. Findings – The study found a number of problems with undertaking overseas financial investigations. These included problems with the letter of request process, difficulties tracking assets in some countries and problems with tracing funds transferred through money service bureaux. Informal contact on a police-to-police basis was generally considered an effective means of improving the quality of information received. Research limitat...

Reaching the parts other investigations cannot reach

Purpose – This paper aims to examine 12 cases in which financial investigation was used in the UK to secure a conviction of an organised crime group. Importantly, no conviction would have been achieved in these cases without the use of financial investigation.Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative interviews were undertaken with investigating officers/financial investigators/prosecutors associated with 60 cases in which a conviction and subsequent confiscation order were achieved. Of these 60 cases, a conviction would not have been achieved without the use of financial investigation in 12 cases. In other cases (not examined here), financial investigation played a supporting role for other methods of investigation to achieve a conviction. This paper provides a reanalysis of the 12 cases concerned.Findings – The study shows that financial investigation was often introduced at the pre‐arrest stage in an investigation, although there were still opportunities to introduce financial investigation earlier in ...