A number of police officers are under investigation after allegations
that they stole cash or other valuables during an unprecedented police
raid on more than 3,000 safe deposit boxes in three security vaults in
London last year, The Independent has learnt.
The Holocaust survivor whose savings were seized by the police ...
... and the other innocent victims of Operation Rize
By Cahal Milmo, Chief Reporter
Scotland Yard's professional standards directorate is investigating nine
complaints, include two allegations of theft, against police officers
who took part in Operation Rize, the raid on three security vaults
beneath some of London's most select neighbourhoods.
It was claimed at the time that the operation, in which some officers
were heavily armed, had uncovered an "Aladdin's cave" of criminal
proceeds worth at least £35m.
However Scotland Yard's internal investigation comes amid wider concerns
that the raids trampled on the privacy of 2,500 innocent box holders,
who include a Holocaust survivor and High Court judges. Each holder of
the 3,554 boxes seized last June at the depositories operated by Safe
Deposit Centres Ltd has had to prove they legitimately own items and
cash found in the boxes, or face a criminal investigation. Lawyers say
the raid has set a disturbing precedent for indiscriminate "fishing
trips" by police seeking evidence of wrongdoing.
Detectives from the Yard's Economic and Specialist Crime Directorate
insist Rize has been a substantial success, leading to 40 arrests for
offences ranging from running prostitution rings, money laundering, drug
supply, paedophilia, burglary and benefit fraud. Eleven prosecutions
have been brought in connection with this raid, they say.
But an investigation by The Independent has revealed that nine
complaints have been made against officers who took part in the raid,
including two separate claims of theft: it has been alleged that small
items of jewellery and £8,500 in cash were removed from boxes. Three
claims for compensation arising from damage to property caused by
police, understood to total around £5,000, are also being processed.
The Independent understands that among the unwitting box-holders caught
up in Rize was a Jewish man who survived the Holocaust as a child. He
kept a lump sum in case his family ever needed to flee their home once
more. A father whose daughter was killed in a car accident had placed
the cash compensation he received in a security box because he did not
know what to do with it. Another family was using a box to store money
that a relative with a gambling addiction had "paid back" after years of
theft.
Several High Court judges and senior police officers, as well as a well-
known businessman and a scion of an international banking family were
also clients of Safe Deposit Centres. Some of the boxes held highly
personal possessions, such as photographs and details of second
families. The contents of about 2,500 boxes have now been returned to
customers while around 700, containing up to £15m in cash, have been
passed to HM Revenue and Customs to be investigated for tax evasion.
Cash has only been returned after owners were able to provide documents
proving its source and that any taxes due on the sum have been paid.
When Roger Mortlock, 59, had his box returned to him after an exhaustive
verification process for the £110,000 he had stored, he said it
contained £8,500 less than it had the last time he counted the cash.
Mr Mortlock, who is being treated for cancer, said: "I got the box
because we had been burgled twice. Having a box doesn't make you a
criminal.
"I couldn't believe the way I was treated. I felt as if I was guilty
until I had proved myself innocent. It took months to even get to the
stage where I was allowed to retrieve my belongings, and then I found
that a substantial amount of the money had gone missing."
Jeffrey Lewis, senior partner of law firm Lewis Nedas, which has
represented more than 70 box-holders, said: "If police want to search a
flat rented by a drugs dealer in a block of flats, they would ordinarily
be granted a warrant to search the flat used by that particular suspect.
In this case, they have in effect smashed their way into every flat on
no real credible basis."
Lawrence Kelly, partner at Lawrence Stephens Solicitors, which has also
represented box-holders, said: "What police seem to have achieved is to
search and seize first, and then place the onus on the individual to
prove they have acted lawfully."
Detectives leading Operation Rize said they had reason to believe a
"high percentage" of the boxes were being used by criminal gangs. They
admitted "innocent" box-holders had been inconvenienced by the
investigation but underlined that the operation had scored significant
success in targeting serious criminals.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "A priority for the investigation
has been to ensure that where contents are held legitimately, the owners
have the contents returned to them as soon as possible."
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