C1Part 7Money Laundering
Offences
I1C1329C1 Acquisition, use and possession
1
A person commits an offence if he—
a
acquires criminal property;
b
uses criminal property;
c
has possession of criminal property.
2
But a person does not commit such an offence if—
a
he makes an authorised disclosure under section 338 and (if the disclosure is made before he does the act mentioned in subsection (1)) he has the appropriate consent;
b
he intended to make such a disclosure but had a reasonable excuse for not doing so;
c
he acquired or used or had possession of the property for adequate consideration;
d
the act he does is done in carrying out a function he has relating to the enforcement of any provision of this Act or of any other enactment relating to criminal conduct or benefit from criminal conduct.
F22A
Nor does a person commit an offence under subsection (1) if—
a
he knows, or believes on reasonable grounds, that the relevant criminal conduct occurred in a particular country or territory outside the United Kingdom, and
b
the relevant criminal conduct—
i
was not, at the time it occurred, unlawful under the criminal law then applying in that country or territory, and
ii
is not of a description prescribed by an order made by the Secretary of State.
2B
In subsection (2A) “ the relevant criminal conduct ” is the criminal conduct by reference to which the property concerned is criminal property.
F12C
A deposit-taking body that does an act mentioned in subsection (1) does not commit an offence under that subsection if—
a
it does the act in operating an account maintained with it, and
b
the value of the criminal property concerned is less than the threshold amount determined under section 339A for the act.
3
For the purposes of this section—
a
a person acquires property for inadequate consideration if the value of the consideration is significantly less than the value of the property;
b
a person uses or has possession of property for inadequate consideration if the value of the consideration is significantly less than the value of the use or possession;
c
the provision by a person of goods or services which he knows or suspects may help another to carry out criminal conduct is not consideration.
Pt. 7 applied (24.2.2003) by Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (Crown Servants) Regulations 2003 (S.I. 2003/173), regs. 1, 3