The Assets Recovery Agency of the Financial Investigations Division this week obtained its first monetary penalty under the Proceeds of Crime Act, POCA.
The order was made against Ralph Gregg in the Home Circuit Court on Wednesday.
Mr. Gregg was convicted of Possession of Cocaine and Dealing in Cocaine in the then Westmoreland Resident Magistrate’s Court on April 23, 2013.
Upon his conviction, the Agency applied for Mr. Gregg to be committed to the Circuit Court, for that Court to consider the benefit he had obtained from his criminal conduct.
This application was granted and the Agency initiated proceedings for a pecuniary penalty order against him.
The Agency brought evidence that Gregg, having been convicted of the offence of Dealing in Cocaine, was deemed to have a criminal lifestyle.
According to Section 8 of POCA, once a person is determined to have a criminal lifestyle, the Court shall make certain assumptions for the purpose of calculating the benefit he obtained from his criminal conduct.
As part of its case, the Agency’s forensic examiners conducted a forfeiture investigation and obtained various financial records concerning Mr. Gregg which showed several deposits and expenditures made by Mr. Gregg and assets that had been obtained by him during the relevant period.
The court agreed with the Agency that Mr. Gregg failed to rebut the assumptions and was not a credible witness. He’s to pay a pecuniary penalty order in the sum of just under $18-million to the Crown by August 28, 2018.
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