Emma RadmoreThe House of Commons Library has published a briefing paper on unexplained wealth orders. The paper looks at the background to the introduction of UWOs in the Criminal Finances Act 2017, and says that only 9 orders have been obtained in relation to 4 cases from inception in January 2018 to February 2022, with none being obtained from the end of 2019 to the date of the report. Given the high profile failures as well as successes, the Government is now looking an a reform of the regime. A national money laundering risk assessment in late 2020 concluded money laundering has probably increased since 2017, so UWOs are probably not yet having their desired impact.
