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Proceeds of crime

When the trial is over and the offender convicted, specialist lawyers in the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) – along with other criminal justice agencies – go after any ill-gotten gains. It may take months or even years to achieve but in 2008 the CPS was involved in recovering £136 million of criminal assets and a further £12 million was returned to the victims of crime by way of compensation.

Find out more about how we go after the proceeds of crime:

Proceeds of Crime Confiscation & Ancillary Orders - Post POCA
Proceeds of Crime Confiscation & Ancillary Orders - Pre POCA
Proceeds of Crime Enforcement
Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 General Guidance
Proceeds of Crime Investigative Powers and Cash Seizure
Proceeds of Crime Money Laundering
Proceeds of Crime Restraint and Management Receivers

Prosecuting Organised Crime

Drug trafficking, people trafficking, use of firearms, money laundering, internet crime, fraud, serious robbery and organised vehicle crime at home and internationally, are all dealt with by the Organised Crime Division. A specialist team of experienced prosecutors, the Organised Crime Division work closely with the police and international law enforcement agencies to bring criminals to justice.

Find out how we refer crimes to the Organised Crime Division

Home » News Centre » Press Releases » CPS to confiscate gangmaster's illegal assets after guilty verdict

CPS to confiscate gangmaster's illegal assets after guilty verdict

03/02/2005

Norfolk Crown Prosecution Service will now apply to confiscate the illegal assets made by gangmaster Victor Solomka after he was convicted today of breaches of immigration law and money laundering.

Chief Crown Prosecutor for Norfolk, Peter Tidey, said: "The law is there for us to hit criminals hard twice over - once with a prison sentence and once by taking their ill-gotten gains. By confiscating the assets Solomka made from his illegal businesses, we intend to hit him where it really hurts - in his pocket."

At King's Lynn Crown Court, Solomka had denied charges of conspiracy to facilitate breaches of immigration law and conspiring to transfer the proceeds of criminal conduct. He will be sentenced on Friday, February 11, 2005.

The prosecution's case was that Solomka's companies supplied illegal workers, mainly to fish factories in northern Scotland, and then laundered the millions of pounds he made to escape detection.

Solomka built up a multi-million pound business using illegal workers from a number of countries, the jury was told, including Russia, the Ukraine, Latvia, Moldova and Lithuania. He provided the workers with false documents, rented out rooms to them and charged them for travelling to and from the factories where they worked.

Mr Tidey said: "Between 2001 and 2004, Solomka's companies were paid about 5million for the illegal workers. His weekly income rose from 7,600 in 2002 to 13,400 in 2004.

"Before the trial, we applied for, and were granted, restraint orders to stop the money being moved and now Solomka has been convicted, we will be looking for confiscation orders to relieve him of his ill-gotten gains.

"The CPS is determined to show criminals that crime does not pay and we will put a stop to their extravagant lifestyles which are funded at the expense of their victims."

  1. Solomka's "right-hand man", Russian national Aleksander Pianzin, who previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to breaches of immigration law will also be sentenced on February 11, 2005, at King's Lynn Crown Court.
  2. For further information contact CPS Press Office on 020 7796 8180.