The Privy Council recently extended the availability of ‘tracing’ in a novel way to increase the options available to states seeking to recover stolen property.

Before this decision a state could only trace property that had been altered, say by sale or transfer, into the proceeds of that alteration if those proceeds did not exist prior to the move. The process of tracing required the state to show what had happened to the property and to identify its proceeds and their recipient. This formed the basis of a claim against the recipient of the proceeds on the basis that those proceeds represented the original property. There was no tracing claim where the proceeds were already in the hands of the recipient.

The Privy Council’s extension of this principle means that where there is a ‘coordinated scheme’, property can be traced into proceeds that were in the hands of the defendant before the property was altered.

This is an extremely useful tool for states that are subject to sophisticated corruption or frauds designed to thwart recovery. We consider the claim in more detail here.

Posted by Jamie Humphreys

Jamie Humphreys is a litigation and regulatory lawyer. He is a strategic advisor to clients who face critical threats to their business at all stages of the product life-cycle, working with them to ensure the most favourable outcome and manage any reputational impact. He also provides policy advice to clients on proposed legislation and regulations that may introduce profound changes to their business. He has acted on high profile litigation across a range of different industries, internal investigations into allegations of fraud by global products manufacturers, major corruption investigations for Governments, and B2B product liability disputes, international recalls and consumer claims for well-known global brands. He is passionate about the impact that new technologies such as 3D printing, AI and Internet of Things will have in the products space and works with clients to ensure they prosper within a dynamic regulatory environment.

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