CRACK TEAM TO BLITZ THE CRIMELORDS; Scotland gets own Untouchables.

Byline: ANDREW WALKER 

ON the mean streets of prohibition-era Chicago, Eliot Ness led an elite band of crimefighters in a fearless battle against the gangsters who ruled the vice-ridden city.

Their crusade became the stuff of legend - and in the end, it wasn't cops but accountants who toppled Al Capone and his cronies.

Now Scotland is getting its own version of The Untouchables, charged with recovering ill- gotten gains from the country's crimelords.

Rich crooks living a life of luxury at the expense of their victims' misery now face a new foe - a crack unit of money men who will trace their cash and take it from them.

Details of the hit squad were revealed yesterday in the House of Commons by Scotland Office minister George Foulkes.

He said: "The Mr Bigs are going to be running scared, wondering where they can hide the profits of their crimes."

The civil recovery unit, to be based at a new crime-fighting campus in Paisley, will include lawyers, accountants and civilian financial investigators. An elite team of fraud squad detectives will also be seconded from forces across Scotland.

The unit will focus on cases where no convictions can be secured in the courts.

Police will only have to show they have reasonable cause to suspect an individual's assets were funded by crime. New laws will be passed by the summer to give the authorities tough new powers.

In a dramatic change to the current procedure, the onus will now be on crooks to prove their assets are legitimate.

And professionals who help criminals hide or launder their "dirty money" will also face tough sanctions under the laws.

Foulkes said: "The unit should cost around pounds 500,000 a year and will probably have a permanent staff of six."

Strathclyde assistant chief constable Graeme Pearson said: "The Bill is designed to deal with those who profit from crime and give us the chance to get those profits back and put them back into the community."