About our Unexplained Wealth Orders news
Latest news on Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWOs), a legal mechanism in the United Kingdom designed to target suspected money laundering and other financial crimes. Introduced in 2018, UWOs are a tool for law enforcement agencies to investigate people who have wealth that appears to be unexplained or disproportionate to their known income. UWOs can be applied to anyone, regardless of their nationality or where they live.
UWOs require the person in question to explain how they obtained their wealth and provide evidence to support their explanation. Failure to comply with a UWO can result in the seizure of assets, including property and bank accounts. UWOs are intended to be used in cases where individuals have assets worth over £50,000 and there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the assets were obtained through criminal activity.
UWOs are controversial, with critics arguing that they violate the principle of innocent until proven guilty and that they could be used to unfairly target people from certain countries or ethnic backgrounds. However, supporters argue that they are a necessary tool in the fight against money laundering and that they can help to recover assets that have been stolen or obtained through criminal activity.