Winning the information wars

Purpose - Recognising that financially related, personal information is the raw material of successful asset recovery investigations, the paper aims to examine the mechanisms which investigators may use to gather such information and the legal barriers to information gathering. Design/methodology/approach - The paper draws on the author's own practical experience of involvement in criminal asset recovery proceedings in the UK. Findings - It is the State's obligation to deliver criminal asset recovery in the most efficient and cost‐effective way, consistent with privacy rights and obligations, providing value for money in what is delivered by law enforcement. Doing so will require making better use of financial information held by public sector agencies. There must be no form of financial information which is beyond the reach of an investigator in an appropriate case. If there is, criminals will utilize that weakness to place criminal assets where information in respect of those assets cannot be obtained. If asset recovery is to be successful, it is essential that – to use the metaphor of financial information as “dots” – investigators are able to collect the dots, connect the dots and share the dots. Practical implications - The paper identifies: the need to keep the legal tools used to obtain information under regular review; eight core information skills which investigators must develop for effective asset recovery; and the importance of a multi‐disciplinary approach in analysing financial information. Originality/value - The paper explores UK criminal asset recovery from an informational perspective.