Legal aid for people facing crime asset recovery claims

Defendants in new civil recovery proceedings, proposed by the Proceeds of Crime Bill, will receive public funding if they fulfil means testing, the government has announced.The move was revealed in the third report on the Bill from the joint parliamentary select committee on human rights, which highlighted continuing concerns, despite government replies to earlier queries.However, the committee disagreed with the government about the procedure for recovery of assets, saying it should be a criminal rather than a civil offence.If it was a criminal offence, human rights provisions would give defendants the right to use the proceeds of their property to pay their legal fees, the committee argued.Jeremy Fleming