SCOTTISH police will be able to keep up to half of the seized assets of criminals under a new incentive plan, as figures emerge suggesting that in some cases courts are seizing just 10%.
Forces are looking to introduce a scheme similar to that south of the border, which means police and other agencies receive 50% of what they recover. Ministers are thought to back the move.
Currently the money is collated nationally and a proportion of it is awarded to local community and sports projects.
Strathclyde Police has been looking at how the scheme could be implemented north of the border.
The Crown Office has seized more than £25m under the Proceeds of Crime Act (Poca) through civil and criminal recovery since 2003.
Last year there were notable successes including Scotland's biggest confiscation order of £1.3m made against businessman Michael Voudouri, 37, of Bridge of Allan, who was jailed for four years in 2004 for a £3m VAT scam.
However, some senior police are concerned that on average just 10% of the assets they believe are held by criminals are ultimately confiscated.
New figures obtained by The Herald show that assets worth almost £89m have been restrained under the criminal recovery side of the legislation since 2003, but that just £13.5m has been confiscated during the same period.
Officials say it is difficult to compare the two figures as the first includes assets restrained for other countries and also because the length of court cases means it is unlikely that assets will be confiscated in the same year they have been seized.
One senior officer said: "There is a real frustration that once we have identified 100% of their assets, the balance sheet goes forward for negotiation with the defence and after that bartering process on average we are seeing just 10% taken off people.
"We have got to look at the system again. Currently there are other pieces of legislation like the matrimonial homes act - which immediately splits the property 50/50 - cutting the amount in half."
Gordon Meldrum, director-general of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency (SCDEA), said: "My own view is that I would support incentivisation and I welcome the debate we are having around this.
"We are re-doubling our own efforts to tackle this within SCDEA. It is about how we strengthen our challenge to organised crime groups and part of that is the motivation to bankrupt these groups.
"One of the ways to do that is to be more aggressive in the ways we strip their assets. We have been impressed by the approaches taken by the Republic of Ireland in this respect."
The Criminal Assets Bureau, set up in Dublin in 1996, has scored successes against previously untouchable gangsters and collected £8.4m last year alone.
In Ireland the onus of proof is on criminals to show how they earned their money to pay for their lifestyles.
However, the Crown Office says the onus in Scotland is "effectively" on the criminal and that the figures are far more complex. For example, the original restraining order may cite a £500,000 house but will not explain that 90% of that is owned by the mortgage company.
Forthcoming amendments to the legislation - including extending the time period over which money can be reclaimed from criminal cases from six to 25 years - are expected to help.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "The new offences in the forthcoming Criminal Justice and Licensing bill will make it easier to target those people who direct crime or those who turn a blind eye to it and those who knowingly live off it.
"As a further weapon in the fight against organised crime, we will be taking steps to extend the range of lifestyle offences that come under the Proceeds of Crime Act."
