Recent judgments help to clarify purpose and threshold of unexplained wealth orders.

By Stuart Alford QC, Oliver Browne, and Clare Nida

The National Crime Agency (NCA) has had a mixed start to 2020, with appeals heard on unexplained wealth orders (UWOs) testing the new investigative tools provided under the Criminal Finances Act 2017 (CFA).

What is an unexplained wealth order?

UWOs were introduced by the CFA (in force from 31 January 2018), creating a new section 362A of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA).