UK needs to toughen up PoCA, other law to tackle criminal kleptocratic wealth -report
Published 16-Jan-2026 by Nick Kochan
Regulatory Intelligence News
The Proceeds of Crime Act (PocA) 2002 needs to be strengthened to allow law enforcement to pursue and seize assets obtained through political patronage and systemic corruption, a report said.
Efforts also need to be harnessed to target the networked enterprises of the kleptocrat rather than merely corrupt individuals, as at present, which could be assisted by reversing the burden of proof. Legislation modelled on the U.S. Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations (RICO) Act would advance this, said the authors linked to the Anti-Corruption Evidence Research programme, based at the University of Sussex.
PoCA, the Terrorism Act 2000 and the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 provide the basis for a specific law targeting kleptocracy.
Legal measures such as conspiracy offences are available to states in regaining kleptocratic assets, in addition to PoCA, said John Heathershaw, joint author of “The Kleptocratic Enterprise: Lessons from crime to target transnational corruption and strengthen asset recovery in the UK“.
Existing law can carry much of the burden.
“Tweaks in the law can be used to tackle something that we call the collective enterprise, which is a much more robust and accurate definition of what kleptocracy is in practice,” he said.
Not delivered
Measures in the Criminal Finances Act 2017 have not delivered, he said. Unexplained wealth orders, for example, where the individual has to prove his right to an asset, have not been the transformative tool that was hoped for.
“This measure is much easier to use when the people who have been responsible for the criminal property are no longer in power,” he said.
Account Freezing Orders have done more to target kleptocratic assets using new civil forfeiture powers, but only 29% of this money is recovered. Kleptocratic assets seized and retained by the UK have fallen between 2021 and 2025, from £87.4 million to £11.3 million.
Law enforcement has struggled, under PoCA, to reach assets held in secretive jurisdictions or disguised with the names of family or associates. The long time lag between stealing the asset and the attempt to recover it is another problem.
Political interference impedes the exchange of information for the authorities, especially when supporters of a kleptocrat hold power in his country.
There was little point in establishing a predicate crime in a country of origin when the alleged criminal receives political protection in his home country, the report said.
“When evidence exists, it is often located in uncooperative or hostile jurisdictions, where local authorities may be unwilling to assist due to the kleptocrat’s political connections,” it said.
The report criticises lawyers for their roles as facilitators in money laundering and says the penalties for doing so are insufficient.
“Low levels of fines for breaches of AML rules have meant a lack of accountability for enabling, which in turn also holds back asset recovery,” it said.
Government is on the line as it seeks to build an anti-corruption consensus and a culture change is needed, Heathershaw said.
Targeting enterprises, rather than individuals, is at the core of international pieces of legislation such as RICO, South Africa’s Prevention of Organised Crime Act, Swiss criminal organisation statutes and Italy’s anti-Mafia code. Groups of enablers can be targeted by mapping and disrupting measures, mirroring RICO legislation.
“The involvement of professional enablers, not simply as kind of contracted persons who are providing a service at a given moment in time, but very often present within family offices, with long-term working relationships with politically exposed persons from environments where there’s a pattern of grand corruption, is the mark of a kleptocratic arrangement,” Heathershaw said.
UK sanctions legislation could be used to pinpoint designated individuals for asset confiscation, with the burden of proof reversed, subject to certain safeguards.
Confiscation proceedings can be brought against those designated for sanctions, without a link being proven between the reason for designation and the assets confiscated, according to the anti-Mafia code.
Political risk
Harbouring kleptocratic assets exposes a country to political risk, unlike the criminal assets of organised crime, the report said.
While amendments to PoCA are required to pinpoint kleptocratic wealth, many of the hurdles are practical. Advising changes to the law risks inadvertently distracting from the powers that exist, even if they are underused.
“Much of PoCA’s potential remains untapped not because of statutory gaps, but rather [because of] limited capacity, under-resourcing, lack of specialist skills and slow international co-operation,” the report said.
Complex money laundering cases involving kleptocrats have ended in secret deals rather than open court, according to a report by Spotlight on Corruption.
The UK is hosting a summit on illicit finance in June and must show it is stepping up to prevent the country from being a magnet for dirty money, campaigners said.
(Nick Kochan, for CUBE Regulatory Intelligence)