Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for The Home Department, if she will issue unexplained wealth orders in respect of members of the Gaddafi Family and Libyan associates who reside in the UK or who claim ownership of assets frozen in the UK.

The recent introduction of the unexplained wealth order in the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 is an important additional tool in asset recovery relating to corruption and serious crime.

This new investigation tool is not a power available to Ministers but rather to certain law enforcement and prosecution agencies such as the National Crime Agency, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Serious Fraud Office. The Government cannot comment on the potential or actual use of investigation powers in individual cases.