John Culatto
POLICE in Gibraltar seized three shops in Watergardens, a Catalan Bay property and a taxi licence that add up in value to £2 million bought using money laundering.
The Royal Gibraltar Police made their move after the Supreme Court ruled Friday that they belong to the close family of Clint Serra, who the police had been investigating since 2020.
A judge ruled Serra’s family bought the £2 million in assets with cash gained from drug trafficking.
The Money Laundering Investigation Unit used the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) to take control of the assets.
Police first started to look into Serra’s business deals after a Spanish law enforcement agency raised his profile as part of a cross-frontier partnership.
MLIU agents then removed the rights to the properties from the family as well as all rents made from them.
A receiver will now sell the properties and the money raised will become part of the newly set up Gibraltar Recovered Asset Fund.
This fund will then be used to strengthen police and customs’ operational effectiveness by paying for equipment and training.
A spokesperson for the RGP said that they would use the civil powers in POCA to remove the assets obtained by suspected criminals, even if criminal case could be not be proven.
“It made no difference if the assets were not in the suspected criminal’s name as this was no bar to an investigation and would not prevent the RGP from targeting criminal assets,” the police said in a statement.
According to social media, Serra lives in Tangiers at the present moment.
The moves to seize money laundering property follow Gibraltar being grey listed last year by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
It demanded courts follow on investigations with more money laundering confiscations.
The government said last week it has now given police and regulators the powers it needs to carry out the confiscations and would just have to wait for courts to make the relevant orders.
READ MORE:
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- Gibraltar regulators fine local estate agent over money laundering ‘breaches and deficiencies’
