Adam Craggs
Adam Craggs is a partner and head of RPC's Tax, Investigations and Financial Crime Team. He has been advising clients for over thirty-five years on contentious tax and financial crime matters.
Adam typically acts for high-net-worth individuals, family offices, trustees and corporates. He assists his clients on a wide range of contentious tax and financial crime issues, including investigations conducted by UK regulatory bodies. He advises those facing criminal fraud investigations and prosecutions and assists those facing urgent crisis situations, such as a 'dawn raid'.
During his long career, Adam has led many cases through the civil and criminal courts, including several before the Supreme Court and the Court of Justice of the European Union.
He is experienced in managing complex cross-border international investigations, both civil and criminal.
Practice Area
Panel
- Contributing Author
Qualified Year
- 1990
Experience
- Partner HMRC’s Solicitor’s Office (1990 - 2007)
Membership
- International Fiscal Association
- Fraud Lawyers Association
- Contentious Tax Group
- Law Society
Qualification
- Solicitor (1990)
Education
- Middlesex University (1984-87)
6 Contributions by Adam Craggs
PRACTICE NOTES
Applying for and challenging Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 production orders: criteria, dominant purpose, candour, procedure and case law (England and Wales)
Production orders
A production order allows authorities to obtain material connected to an identified person or business, such as bank records and correspondence. The individual named must either deliver the specified material to an officer or permit that officer to access it. The order can be served on a person or an institution, and may extend to authorising entry to premises to reach the material. This mechanism is available for all forms of ‘investigation’, including confiscation, civil recovery, money laundering, exploitation proceeds, detained cash, detained property, and investigations into frozen funds and cryptoassets.
The dominant purpose test
In R (on the application of Bowles) v Southwark Crown Court, a pre‑POCA ruling, it was decided that production orders could not be secured under the predecessor to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA 2002) to further a criminal investigation, including one concerning money laundering; they were limited to confiscation investigations. The test asked whether the ‘true and dominant’ purpose of the application was to obtain evidence in support of a confiscation investigation; if not, an order...
Corporate Crime
PRACTICE NOTES
Directors’ statutory declarations of solvency in members’ voluntary liquidations: offence, evidential presumption, requirements and sentencing (England and Wales)
Under the Insolvency Act 1986 (IA 1986), a company director commits a criminal offence by making a statutory declaration that a company is solvent without reasonable grounds. The case can be tried in either the magistrates' court or the Crown Court...
Corporate Crime
PRACTICE NOTES
False representations to creditors in winding up: offence by company officers (including shadow directors), elements, dishonesty test and penalties under the Insolvency Act 1986
Under the Insolvency Act 1986 (IA 1986), it is a criminal offence for any officer of a company, past or present, to obtain creditors’ agreement by deception or by making false statements in connection with a company’s winding up. The matter can be prosecuted in either the magistrates’ court or the Crown Court.
Elements of the offence
a company is in the process of being wound up, whether by the court or voluntarily
the individual is, or has previously been, an officer of the company
they make a false representation, or
they perpetrate fraud
for the purpose of obtaining the creditors’ consent
to an agreement concerning the company’s affairs or to the winding up, and
they are deemed to have committed the offence if, prior to the winding up, they made any false representation or engaged in any other fraud for that purpose
Winding up of a company
This offence concerns misconduct occurring during the liquidation of a company or while the winding up is in progress...
Corporate Crime
PRACTICE NOTES
Insolvency Act 1986 s207: Transactions in Fraud of Creditors by Company Officers—Offence, Defences (burdens and time limits), Alternative Charge (s206) and Sentencing
Offence of making transactions in fraud of creditors
Any current or former officer of a company that is being wound up by court order, or has resolved to wind up voluntarily, is regarded as having committed an offence if, whilst in office, they:
made, or procured to be made, any gift, transfer, or charge over the company’s property, or caused or connived in the levying of any execution against the company’s property; or
concealed or removed any part of the company’s property after, or within two months before, the date an unsatisfied judgment or order for the payment of money was obtained against the company.
The case may be heard in the magistrates’ court or the Crown Court. A shadow director is not treated as an officer for the purposes of this offence. A person ‘causes’ something to be done when they instruct or direct that it be done.
Statutory defence for transactions in fraud of creditors
There is a statutory defence available to a defendant who proves...
Corporate Crime
CHECKLISTS
Criminal advocates’ practical checklist for remote hearings in England and Wales: preparation, CVP/VHS access, DCS/DARTS, conferences, court dress, formalities, and video/telephone conduct
This Checklist
This Checklist sets out essential, hands-on advice for criminal practitioners who need to take part in hearings held via live audio or live video links. Read it alongside the Practice Note: Practical guide to remote hearings in the criminal courts, which contains fuller step-by-step assistance on, for example, preparation in advance, technology considerations, and participation in the hearing itself through platforms including the dedicated Cloud Video Platform (CVP) and the Video Hearings Service (VHS). Be aware that VHS is not yet fully rolled out across England and Wales. It was withdrawn from service in July 2024 to resolve stability problems, and HM Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS) has stated it plans to reinstate it after completing a scheduled handover to a new service provider. When back in use, local courts will notify users of the start of VHS hearings, and access details will arrive from an ‘HMCTS.reform.net’ email address. The Lord Chief Justice has issued guidance on advocates’ remote attendance in the Crown Court, and every practitioner should ensure they are familiar with it as a matter of routine...
Corporate Crime
CHECKLISTS
Defence mitigation at sentencing: practitioner checklist, key factors, character and medical evidence, and practical tips (England and Wales)
How a sentence is reached
When passing sentence, the court typically weighs the statutory sentencing range, the relevant Sentencing Council (SC) guidance—including any offence‑specific guideline—the overarching guidance, and sentencing authorities from the Court of Appeal. The SC’s offence‑specific or general guideline provides a mandatory step‑by‑step method the court must apply. See Practice Notes: Sentences imposed following conviction and Sentencing Council General Guideline—Overarching Principles. In most cases the court will consider:
the appropriate starting point within the Sentencing Guidelines
any aggravating features of the offence
mitigation and the defendant’s personal circumstances
any discount for a guilty plea
whether the offender is dangerous and presents a significant risk of harm through further specified offences
any suitable ancillary orders
the totality of the sentence to ensure proportionality to the offending behaviour
Mitigation
The SC’s guidelines, together with the general guideline, contain non‑exhaustive examples of mitigating factors that may lead the court to reduce the sentence...
Corporate Crime
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