It is a defense to the possession of criminal property offense under Section 329 if the relevant person acquired the criminal property for adequate consideration.  Adequate consideration requires that the value of the consideration must not be significantly less than the value of the property or the value of the use of the property.  It does not include the provision of goods or services which one knows or suspects may help another to carry out criminal conduct.1

Criminal property would likely be deemed to have been acquired for adequate consideration in the following scenario.  Company A acquires Company B with no knowledge that Company B previously benefited from some contracts that were tainted by corruption.  Post-acquisition, Company A becomes suspicious about the contracts (which had by that point been terminated) and therefore suspects that it may be in possession of the proceeds of crime.  It is likely that company A would be regarded as having acquired the criminal property for adequate consideration.



1
 Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, c. 29, § 329(3) (UK).

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