Pubdate: Sun, 07 Sep 2003
Source: Sunday Times (Australia)
Copyright: 2003 Times Newspapers Ltd
Contact: http://www.sundaytimes.news.com.au/letters/letters.html
Website: http://www.sundaytimes.news.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/438
Author: Gary Adshead

NO ROOM FOR ASSETS OF CRIME	

POLICE can no longer seize boats, cars and motorcycles belonging to WA 
criminals because they've run out of storage room.

Investigators are continuing to put freeze orders on suspected proceeds of 
crime but they can no longer remove the items.

"At the moment the officers are putting orders on vehicles and boats and 
other assets and then leaving them in situ with the criminals they're 
supposed to have taken them off," WA Police Union president Mike Dean said.

"You can imagine what's going to happen to these assets.  They will end up 
being used, deliberately run-down, damaged or even stolen."

The lack of storage space is just one of a number of setbacks for the 
police unit that tackles the finances of organised crime.

Office space was taken from the unit recently because promises of more 
staff and equipment did not eventuate.

The unit has officers trying to cope with as many as 42 case files each 
under the Criminal Property Confiscation Act brought in three years ago.

"This is total mismanagement," Mr Dean said.  "This is one of the few 
legislative tools where they (the Government) could have dealt with 
organised crime properly and efficiently and actually helped the community 
but because of silly management practices by government the whole thing is 
grinding to a halt."

The act also allows for investigations into unexplained wealth of people 
suspected of being involved with organised crime.

But until more investigators, analysts and forensic accountants are added 
to the assets unit, it can't be as pro-active as it would like.

High-profile people suspected of having major organised-crime links in 
Perth are safe from the legislation unless caught trafficking drugs or 
committing other serious crimes.

Investigators know the crime bosses keep themselves distanced from 
day-to-day illegal activities, so the best chnace of attacking them is 
through the unexplained-wealth provisions of the Act.

Attorney-General Jim McGinty has control of the funds confiscated from 
criminals, but has made only $150,000 available to the assets unit for an 
accountant, compared with more than $1 million spent on community projects 
such as security lighting at a retirement village.

In April last year he posed with Director of Public Prosecutions Robert 
Cock QC on the back of a confiscated motorcycle.

He said at the time that "drug traffickers, in particular, could expect 
that all the property they owned or controlled, and even property they gave 
away, could and would be seized".

"Their luxury lifestyles will simply be stripped away," Mr McGinty said.

Despite its restrictions, the specialist unit has frozen $39 million worth 
of assets.

"The tragedy is, it could have been such a magnificent success - $100 
million could have been seized by now," Mr Dean said.

"What Mr McGinty is doing is sabotaging the Government's own legislation."

Mr McGinty said yesterday this was the first he had heard of the storage 
concerns.

"Mr Dean has never raised this with me and I wonder how genuine it is," he 
said.

"I presume this is part of the campaign by police for wages."
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart