Jun 21 - Over £100,000 Confiscated From Cocaine Street Dealer Convicted Of Money Laundering
The Supreme Court has ordered the confiscation of over £100,000 from a cocaine dealer and convicted money launderer.
Gerard Asquez, 37, was jailed for five years and nine months last July after pleading guilty to two counts of possessing a Class A drug, Cocaine, with intent to supply. These indictments related to two separate incidents back in August 2016.
In imposing a sentence, the Chief Justice said: “I sentence the defendant on the basis that he is a street dealer who played a significant role and which was one that came about because of his own substance abuse but also one motivated by financial gain”.
The Money Laundering Investigation Unit (MLIU) of the RGP conducted an investigation into Asquez’s financial affairs to ascertain his benefit from drugs trafficking. This investigation lead to Asquez being sentenced to 16 weeks for money laundering, after he pleaded guilty to one count of concealing or transferring the proceeds of criminal conduct. This related to £17,000 in cash deposits made to his bank account between January and February 2015.
At a subsequent confiscation hearing in front of Puisne Judge Karen Ramagge Prescott, a trained financial investigator of the MLIU said that Asquez had benefitted by over £100,000 from his drug dealing.
Asquez’s defence had claimed that the defendant had other sources of income not divined by the RGP investigation, such as working with his father, for which he was paid in cash, participating in the family business, commercial fishing on a small scale, acquiring and selling second hand motor vehicles and the buying and selling of personal jewellery. The matter was then adjourned until today when Mrs. Justice Ramagge Prescott handed down her judgment.
In delivering her judgment today, Justice Ramagge Prescott stated that:
“I am in no doubt that the Defendant has failed to satisfy me that the income he claims to have earned has been declared by him to the Commissioner of Income Tax. In the absence of such a declaration and in the absence of any credible evidence from the Defendant I find that the assumptions I am bound to draw pursuant to section 37 (3) (... of the Proceeds of Crime Act) have not been displaced. In light of these provisions and having heard the Defendant and in the absence of any evidence produced by him, I find on a balance of probabilities that the only source of legitimate income the Defendant had in the relevant period was his employment at the GHA.
“I find that the Defendant has benefitted from drug trafficking in the amount of £100, 374.76.”
The Court has ordered Asquez to pay the £95,000 forthwith and will issue a certificate for the differential between his realisable property and the amount of his benefit, allowing the Crown to apply to seize future realisable property to cover this differential if and when such assets are discovered.
The Commissioner of Police Ian McGrail has said: “Pursuing confiscation orders on top of criminal convictions is a weapon we can use to hit offenders where it hurts them the most; in the pocket. Her Majesty’s Government of Gibraltar has given us the tools in the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) to take criminals’ ill-gotten gains from them. We will conduct a financial investigation on all criminal cases where major proceeds are generated from the crime and pursue money laundering charges and remove assets from criminals wherever we can. The RGP will do everything in its power to chase down and confiscate criminal assets, which can then be reinvested into the fight against crime.
“This is the first confiscation since the introduction of the POCA, but the RGP are active in the use of other POCA powers that allow for the forfeiture of cash derived from or to be used in criminality with over £32,000 having been forfeited in various cases so far.”
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