Gibraltar News Online

Support for AG’s call on civil proceedings

Controlling the profits of crime will help deglamourise those individuals in society who are negative role models for young people, Fabian Picardo Opposition spokesman on legal affairs has declared.

Responding to Chronicle questions, Mr Picardo supported the Attorney General’s call for the introduction of civil procedures for the seizure of assets of criminal activity. Mr Rhoda’s remarks have also been backed by the local Drugs Coordinator John Montegriffo.

The Opposition spokesman, who is also Shadow Attorney General, said that any new measures should not be implemented on a ‘carte-blanche’ basis but applied in clearly defined circumstances, set out in the appropriate legislation.

He also favours working backwards, at least in the initial stages, from cases where a conviction already exists.

Mr Picardo says that the civil proceedings measure could prove effective in dealing with home grown crime, and rejects suggestions that it is politically embarrassing for government to implement this, because it might draw attention to the fact that the mechanism does not currently exist.

He said Gibraltar already has the all-crimes anti-money laundering laws in place to deal with serious crime on an international scale, and pointed to other jurisdictions, such as Spain, where the mechanism in question does not exist either.

“It would be nonsense for government to drag its feet on this because of any political sensitivity.”

Meanwhile, in an interview with the Chronicle, Mr Picardo says government must take “a wholistic view” on issues related to crime, arguing that there is a link between petty offences, anti-social behaviour and the breakdown of family values.

“Crime and its apparent profit becomes a trap into which people who do not have a better example in their own homes can fall,” he says.

Mr Picardo says much has been said in recent weeks about the potential breakdown of family values in Gibraltar, and the growing problem of anti-social behaviour.

In fact Governor Sir Francis Richards made reference to the problem in his recent New Year Message.

The Opposition spokesman believes that there should be a three-pronged strategy including the implementation of a policy for the rehabilitation of offenders, a proper remand centre for recurring delinquents, awaiting trial, and an early warning system to provide greater attention to people who commit their first petty crime.

In this respect he would like to see a closer and more proactive involvement from the social services agency in the daily operation of the Magistrates Court. Mr Picardo believes that having an appropriate “safety net to catch youths early on,” is an essential ingredient of this.

“This is vital. That first crime can be the initial step that can lead to a life of crime. I believe in punishment, rehabilitation and education, as a mark of a civilised society, not just in punishment for its own sake.”

Access to gainful employment, he continued, was also an effective mechanism to reintegrate offenders into society.

The Opposition spokesman says that at a young age people are confronted with choices to be “cool,” to make money and be successful in life.

Some, he argues, adopt a conventional route through education, while others “who also want to drive the BMW and get the pretty girl,” but do not have the means, “will resort to driving the jet-ski [loaded with drugs].”

Mr Picardo understands that what the Attorney General was saying was that we need to cast a wider net, beyond drug offences, in the control of profit of criminal activity to ensure that crime in general does not pay.

“We would support an initiative to analyse how the UK’s recent Proceeds of Crime Act might work in practice locally, but with the caveat that for the Opposition, it would be central to see the detail of any legislation government would propose, as a result of those general principles being brought into law,” he added.

From The Gibraltar Chronicle - The Independent Daily First Published 1801

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