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At the High Court in Edinburgh on Friday, December 16 2011 17 fishermen, who had previously pled guilty to landing undeclared fish at Shetland Catch Ltd in Lerwick between 2002 and 2005, were the subject of confiscation orders totalling £2,945,600.
The 17 accused, all vessel skippers, their vessels and the amounts of their confiscation orders are as below:
• Hamish Slater (DOB 31/12/1958) Master of Enterprise – Confiscation Order £425,900
• Robert Polson (DOB 01/05/1963) Master of Serene – Confiscation Order £371,300
• Victor Buschini (DOB 14/06/1960) Master of Enterprise – Confiscation Order £341,000
• Alexander Masson (DOB 22/12/1945) Master of Kings Cross – Confiscation Order £283,000
• John Irvine (DOB 01/10/1943) Master of Zephyr – Confiscation Order £236,000
• William Andrew Williamson (DOB 24/12/1946) Master of Research W – Confiscation Order £213,000
• Laurence Anderson Irvine (DOB 10/12/1945) Master of Antares – Confiscation Order £210,700
• Alexander Wiseman (DOB 03/10/1951) Master of Kings Cross – Confiscation Order £196,000
• David Hutchison (DOB 11/10/1945) Master of Charisma – Confiscation Order £140,900
• Thomas Eunson (DOB 12/04/1955) Master of the Serene – Confiscation Order - £140,500
• Allister Irvine (DOB 25/11/1948) Master of the Zephyr - Confiscation Order - £120,600
• Gary Williamson (DOB 28/09/1959) Master of the Research W – Confiscation Order - £118,500
• George Andrew Henry (DOB 22/10/1951) Master of the Adenia – Confiscation Order - £51,300
• John William Stewart (DOB 28/01/1955) Master of the Antarctic – Confiscation Order - £41,300
• George Anderson (DOB 10/02/1956) Master of the Adenia – Confiscation Order - £40,700
• Colin Andrew Leask (DOB 08/01/1973) Master of the Antarctic II – Confiscation Order - £12,000
• Allen Anderson (DOB 30/07/1956) Master of the Serene – Confiscation Order - £2,700
Also at the same court, in a separate case, Alexander Buchan Limited, which formerly operated a fish processing factory in Peterhead, pled guilty to assisting vessel skippers in making false declarations of fish which had been landed at their factory premises between 2003 and 2005.
The company admitted that it had made £165,000 from the subsequent sale of the illegally landed fish and the High Court made a confiscation order in terms of the Proceeds of Crime 1995 requiring the company to pay this sum.
The offences by the vessel skippers in Lerwick and by the factory in Peterhead, in contravention of sea fishing legislation, relate to a number of illegal landings of mackerel and herring at Lerwick and Peterhead in respect of which vessel skippers falsely declared the quantity of fish they landed as a means of evading the annual fishing quota allowed to each vessel.
Speaking after the court hearings, Lesley Thomson QC, the Solicitor General, said: “In committing these offences all of the accused put their own financial gain first. Make no mistake these individuals were involved in significant organised criminality.
“These prosecutions are part of an extensive and complex investigation undertaken jointly by Grampian Police and Northern Constabulary under the direction of the Serious and Organised Crime Division of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, and with assistance from Marine Scotland.
“The investigation is continuing into other landings and COPFS will continue to work with police and other agencies to maximise the powers under the Proceeds of Crime legislation, to target anyone that would seek to benefit from their crimes.
Detective Superintendent Gordon Gibson of Grampian Police, who led the police investigation, said: "These have been an extremely complex and lengthy investigations which have required many many months of meticulously detailed work by the Officers concerned. It is an excellent example of extremely effective partnership working by a number of Law Enforcement bodies across Scotland and beyond. As can be seen from the pleas tendered today, this was criminality at an extremely high level and it reflects most favourably on the dedication of all the staff involved in these investigations.
"A clear message has also been sent out to those involved that they will not be allowed to profit from such criminality. I look forward to the sizeable sum which has been confiscated under the proceeds of crime being distributed to many worthwhile causes across our communities in Scotland."
Cephas Ralph, Head of Compliance at Marine Scotland said: "This successful court activity was the result of a long and complex joint operation into historic large-scale illegality at a small number of processing plants.
“While this action has helped to significantly improve matters our officers remain continuously vigilant in monitoring the significant quantities of valuable fish handled by Scottish processing plants."
Sentencing of the 17 skippers was deferred until 23 January 2012 at the High Court in Edinburgh and sentencing of Alexander Buchan Ltd was deferred until 27 January 2012 at the High Court in Edinburgh.
These confiscations brings the total recovered through POCA this financial year to £ 5,318,986.
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