PART 2 AMENDMENT OF CORRUPTION, DRUG
TRAFFICKING AND OTHER SERIOUS CRIMES
(CONFISCATION OF BENEFITS) ACT 1992 |
4. In the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act 1992 (called in this Part the CDSA), in section 2(1) —| (a) | in the definition of “foreign serious offence”, replace paragraph (b) with —| “(b) | includes any offence specified in the Third Schedule;”; and |
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| | (b) | delete the definition of “foreign serious tax offence”. |
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5. In the CDSA, in section 5(1) —| (a) | in paragraph (a)(vii) and (viii), delete “and” at the end; | | (b) | in paragraph (a), after sub‑paragraph (viii), insert —| “(ix) | any information disclosed to a Suspicious Transaction Reporting Officer under section 16A of the Free Trade Zones Act 1966; | | (x) | any information disclosed to a Suspicious Transaction Reporting Officer under section 6 of the Goods and Services Tax Act 1993; | | (xi) | any information disclosed to a Suspicious Transaction Reporting Officer under section 6 of the Income Tax Act 1947; and | | (xii) | any information disclosed to a Suspicious Transaction Reporting Officer under section 31 of the Regulation of Imports and Exports Act 1995; and”; and |
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| | (c) | replace paragraph (b) with —| “(b) | subject to any prohibition or restriction under any written law, the dissemination of the results of any such analysis.”. |
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| 6. In the CDSA, in section 6, in the section heading, after “Confiscation orders”, insert “for benefits derived from drug dealing”. |
7. In the CDSA, after section 19, insert —| “Dealing with property under restraint orders |
19A.—(1) The General Division of the High Court may order the sale of any property that is the subject matter of a restraint order if —| (a) | every party that is known to have a prima facie interest in the property consents to the sale, and an authorised officer or the Public Prosecutor makes an application for the sale of the property; or | | (b) | an authorised officer or the Public Prosecutor makes an application for the sale of the property, and —| (i) | the authorised officer or the Public Prosecutor proves, on a balance of probabilities, that either of the factors mentioned in subsection (2) applies; or | | (ii) | the General Division of the High Court is of the view that the sale would be in the interests of justice. |
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(2) For the purpose of subsection (1)(b)(i), the factors are the following:| (a) | the value of the property is likely to be subject to depreciation until it is finally disposed of under this Act; | | (b) | the property is of such a nature or in such condition that to retain custody of or maintain the property, until it is finally disposed of under this Act, would be —| (i) | dangerous; | | (ii) | unduly costly; or | | (iii) | not reasonably practicable. |
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(3) The General Division of the High Court is not to order the sale of any property under subsection (1) unless —| (a) | notice of the proceedings concerning the sale is given to every party that is known to have a prima facie interest in the property; and | | (b) | the General Division of the High Court is satisfied that the costs of the sale are, or are likely to be, reasonable in the circumstances. |
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| (4) The General Division of the High Court may make an order under subsection (1) in the absence of any party that is known to have a prima facie interest in the property if the General Division of the High Court is satisfied that the party has been given notice under subsection (3)(a). |
| (5) The net proceeds of a sale under subsection (1) are to be taken to constitute the property which is the subject matter of the restraint order and that property may be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of this Act. |
| (6) The reference in subsection (1) to any property that is the subject matter of a restraint order includes any property that is the subject matter of a restraint order made before the date of commencement of section 7 of the Anti‑Money Laundering and Other Matters Act 2024, if the restraint order has not been discharged in relation to that property immediately before that date.”. |
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8. In the CDSA, in section 22 —| (a) | replace subsection (5) with —“(5) The General Division of the High Court may order any person having possession of realisable property to give possession of it to —| (a) | the Public Trustee or any receiver; or | | (b) | any other person that the General Division of the High Court thinks fit.”; and |
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| | (b) | in subsection (9), after “subsection (4)(a),”, insert “(5)(b),”. |
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| 9. In the CDSA, in section 31(4), after “Sections 6(6)”, insert “and (7)”. |
10. In the CDSA, in section 45, after subsection (9), insert —| “(10) Despite section 77 and any other written law or rule of law, where a regulated person has disclosed under subsection (1) any thing to a Suspicious Transaction Reporting Officer, that Suspicious Transaction Reporting Officer (or any other Suspicious Transaction Reporting Officer) may, in order to enable the specified regulator of the regulated person to carry out any of its functions or duties, communicate that thing disclosed by the regulated person to the regulated person’s specified regulator. |
(11) In this section —“regulated person”, in relation to a specified regulator, means any person who is approved, authorised, designated, recognised, registered, licensed or otherwise regulated by the specified regulator under any written law, and that is either —| (a) | prescribed as a regulated person of that specified regulator; or | | (b) | a member of a class of persons prescribed as regulated persons of that specified regulator; |
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“specified regulator” means —| (a) | any ministry, department or Organ of State of the Government, or a public officer of any ministry, department or Organ of State of the Government; or | | (b) | a public authority established under any public Act for a public purpose or an officer or employee of the public authority, |
| that is prescribed as a specified regulator.”. |
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11. In the CDSA, in section 56, after subsection (4), insert —| “(5) For the purpose of proving an offence under section 50(1) or (1A) against a person for entering into, or for otherwise being concerned in, an arrangement involving property that relates to the benefits of drug dealing, it is not necessary for the prosecution to prove as a physical element of that offence that the property is in fact the benefits of drug dealing. |
| (6) For the purpose of proving an offence under section 51(1) or (1A) against a person for entering into, or for otherwise being concerned in, an arrangement involving property that relates to the benefits from criminal conduct, it is not necessary for the prosecution to prove as a physical element of that offence that the property is in fact the benefits from criminal conduct. |
| (7) For the purpose of proving an offence under section 53(1), (2), (3) or (3A) against a person for any act mentioned in those provisions involving property that relates to the benefits of drug dealing, it is not necessary for the prosecution to prove as a physical element of that offence that the property is in fact the benefits of drug dealing. |
| (8) For the purpose of proving an offence under section 54(1), (2), (3) or (3A) against a person for any act mentioned in those provisions involving property that relates to the benefits from criminal conduct, it is not necessary for the prosecution to prove as a physical element of that offence that the property is in fact the benefits from criminal conduct. |
| (9) For the purpose of proving an offence under section 55A(1) against a person for entering into, or for otherwise being concerned in, an arrangement involving property that relates to the benefits of drug dealing or the benefits from criminal conduct, it is not necessary for the prosecution to prove as a physical element of that offence that the property is in fact the benefits of drug dealing or the benefits from criminal conduct, as the case may be. |
| (10) For the purpose of proving an offence under section 55A(2) against a person for any act mentioned in that provision involving property that relates to the benefits of drug dealing or the benefits from criminal conduct, it is not necessary for the prosecution to prove as a physical element of that offence that the property is in fact the benefits of drug dealing or the benefits from criminal conduct, as the case may be.”. |
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| 12. In the CDSA, in section 84, replace “and Second Schedules” with “, Second and Third Schedules”. |
13. In the CDSA, after the Second Schedule, insert —1. Any “foreign serious environmental offence” being an offence against the national law of a foreign country that consists of the doing of any of the following (however described):| (a) | illegal logging involving the harvesting, processing, transporting, buying or selling of timber in contravention of domestic and international laws; | | (b) | illegal land clearing involving the illegal acquisition and clearing of land for farming, building or real estate speculation; | | (c) | illegal mining involving any mining activity that is undertaken without state permission (in the absence of land rights, mining licences and exploration or mineral transportation permits), or mining activity with state permission obtained through corruption; | | (d) | illegal import, export, transit or illicit disposal of hazardous wastes and other wastes; | | (e) | illegal wildlife trade (whether involving any commercial or non‑commercial activity), including offering, offering for sale, distribution, brokerage or other forms of intermediary activity, sale, delivery, despatch, consignment, transport, purchase, possession, donation, exchange, exhibition or employment of any specimen of a wild protected species (or part thereof), within any territory under the jurisdiction of a given country, that is conducted in contravention of national or international laws and regulations; | | (f) | attempting to carry out, abetting, or being a party to a criminal conspiracy to carry out, any activity listed in sub‑paragraphs (a) to (e). |
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2. Any “foreign serious tax offence”, being an offence against the national law of a foreign country that consists of the doing of any of the following (however described) wilfully with intent to evade, or to assist any other person to evade, any tax of that country:| (a) | omitting from, or understating or overstating in, a return made for the purposes of that tax any information which should be included in the return; | | (b) | making any false statement or entry in any return, claim or application made, or any document or information required to be given, for the purposes of that tax; | | (c) | giving any false answer, whether verbally or in writing, to any question or request for information asked or made for the purposes of that tax; | | (d) | failing to inform the authority responsible for the collection of that tax, in the required manner, of any incorrect information appearing in any assessment made by that authority, when required to do so; | | (e) | preparing or maintaining, or authorising the preparation or maintenance, of any false books of account or other records, or falsifying or authorising the falsification of any books of account or records; | | (f) | making use of any fraud, art or contrivance, or authorising the use of any such fraud, art or contrivance.”. |
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