17 properties worth in excess of £8 million have been seized by the National Crime Agency (NCA) following a civil recovery and tax investigation.
Four members of the Davies family; Shane, his wife Rhianna, mother Sheila and sister Tracey, surrendered the property assets, including a villa in Tenerife and 16 properties across Somerset after admitting they were purchased using illicit finances.
The NCA investigation found that property acquired between 1998 and 2007 was bought using the proceeds of sale of controlled drugs with some properties bought through mortgage fraud.
Since 2007, the family have been able to enjoy significant returns on their ill-gotten investments through sizeable rental incomes from a seven-bedroom converted barn sporting indoor pool and 18th Century Georgian townhouse in Bath.
Between 2004 and 2009, the holiday lets generated over £2 million in rental and commercial income.
In addition to the property seizures, the family will pay £368,000 of the rental income back.
Andy Lewis, NCA Head of Asset Denial, said:
“This investigation has identified unlawfully-held assets worth millions of pounds.
“The Canary Islands holiday home and prestige vehicle represent the obvious trappings of wealth, but equally important is the recovery of numerous commercial and residential properties, which will otherwise have continued to generate substantial revenue that the defendants were not entitled to.
“It is vital to the UK’s economic well being that assets are held legitimately, and the NCA is determined to recover property acquired through the proceeds of serious and organised crime.”
Gareth Kitchener, Detective Sergeant in the case, said:
“This is a fantastic result that is testament to the tenacity of the NCA investigators who took this case forward. It demonstrates that civil recovery powers are an extremely powerful tool in the fight against organised crime.”
Should stakeholders in the home buying and selling process have identified some of these purchases as potential money laundering ventures? Will the increased scrutiny around AML compliance reduce the amount of property fraud and money laundering?
