Isle of Man Country Profile - MLA in Relation to Asset Recovery

The Isle of Man has the ability to co-operate with other jurisdictions and provide assistance in criminal matters. Proposed alterations to the law on MLA are intended remove ambiguity and clarify the intention of the legislation.

The Bill will make the following changes -

1. where a person has been charged with an offence in the Island and believes that there is evidence in another jurisdiction that may assist in his defence, an application may be made to a court in the Island under section 20 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 for a Letter of Request. This Letter may be sent to a court, tribunal or competent authority in the other jurisdiction seeking their assistance. Currently such a Letter of Request is routed via the Attorney General. The Bill would remove the requirement for the Letter to be sent via the Attorney;
2. it will permit the Attorney General to use information obtained using his powers to obtain evidence for use in proceedings outside the Island for another purpose, providing that the other conditions contained in Section 21 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 are met;
3. assistance will be possible where agencies in other jurisdictions are carrying out civil or administrative investigations or proceedings - in the same way as is currently possible where criminal matters are involved. This would allow for assistance to be provided, for example, to regulatory bodies carrying out investigations into cross-border securities and derivatives violations and fraud. This is something called for by the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), of which the Island's Financial Supervision Commission is a member;
4. it will make it an offence for a financial institution to reveal details of any court order (production order, account monitoring order or customer information order), or service on it of a notice under  Section 24 Criminal Justice Act 1990 or Section 21 Criminal Justice Act 1991. This would extend the "tipping off" provisions currently available in anti-money laundering legislation, and is intended to protect the security of the investigation involved;
5. it will amend the Criminal Justice Act 1991 to permit the transfer of a prisoner from the Island to assist an investigation abroad, but only if they agree in writing to such a transfer and there is a treaty or agreement in place with the other country dealing with such transfers; and
6. it will create a legal framework facilitating reciprocal agreements with other countries for the sharing of confiscated assets.