Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) of the United Kingdom (UK) has confiscated cash belonging to Nayele Ametefe,
the Ghanaian-Austrian woman who was jailed eight years and eight months
for transporting 12 kilogrammes of cocaine into that country.
The HMRC confiscated $23,000 and £6,000 which were found on Ametefe at the time of her arrest at the Heathrow Airport.
Following
the action of the HMRC, the Isleworth Crown Court in Middlesex, London
which had jailed the drug dealer on January 6, this year and set July 6,
2015 to decide on the confiscation or otherwise of the moneys could not
hear the matter because the cash had been seized and kept by the HMRC.
No need for hearing
Ametefe’s
lawyer, James Scobie, QC, told the Daily Graphic in London that there
was no need for the hearing, once the HMRC had decided to seize and keep
the cash.
He, however, did not explain the
decision by the HMRC to keep the money without the hearing and also why
he was not contesting the decision.
Information
available to the Daily Graphic, however, indicates that it is the
prerogative of the security agencies to have the final say in respect of
the confiscation of cash accruing from drugs.
The
street value of the cocaine Ametefe carried was said to be £1.9 million
but enquiries at the court before the date set for hearing revealed
that there would be no such confiscation hearing.
The
amount found in her possession and seized by the UK authorities when
she was arrested was said to be her payment for carrying the cocaine to
the UK.
Ametefe was arrested at the Heathrow
Airport on November 10, 2014 after attempting to enter the UK with the
cocaine in her hand luggage.
She was subsequently charged with Class A drug trafficking and put before the Isleworth Crown Court in Middlesex, London.
In
the UK, seizure of cash is made under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002
and under Section 19 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984.
One
may challenge the legality of any such seizure by sending a notice of
claim to the HMRC or the Border Force or write to the HMRC or the Border
Force asking for the return of one’s cash, even if they accept it was
seized legally.
This is called restoration, but for Mr Scobie, there was “no need for a hearing”.
Source: Graphiconline
