The National Crime Agency (NCA) has obtained a ruling from the High Court that allows Barclays to hand over criminal funds to the NCA in a first-of-its-kind civil recovery case. 

The money - amounting to over £50m - was identified by the bank in a number of accounts and transferred to secure holding accounts.

The civil recovery order means that for the first time, legal powers were used to recover the proceeds of crime where the account holders were not named in the court action.

Adrian Searle, Director of the National Economic Crime Centre (NECC) in the NCA said: “Identifying and recovering funds and assets linked to criminal activity is a priority for the NCA. This High Court ruling is a great example of how the public and private sector can work together to recover proceeds of crime. The proactive identification of these funds by Barclays was the reason we could take this action. The money will be credited to the public purse and a portion used to fund a range of work including programmes designed to prevent fraud and protect potential victims.

“The NECC will continue to work with the financial and regulated sectors to identify and recover illicit finance, using all the tools at our disposal.”

A Barclays spokesperson said: “We are vigilant in rooting out and identifying any criminal activity. We welcome the High Court’s ruling, which enables the funds to be transferred to the NCA to support further their efforts in stopping scams and economic crime”.

Because Barclays and the NCA are unable to identify victims neither Barclays nor the NCA are able to contact individuals directly. Anyone with questions about the funds should contact their own bank or Action Fraud. Do not reply to any unsolicited communications that purport to be directly from the NCA or a bank about the funds as this will be an attempt at fraud.

25 November 2022