Australia: No Happy New Year for cash-rich criminals.
Should old acquaintance be forgot, especially if they might tell where the money is. Aus. toughens up proceeds of crime legislation.
Australia's Commonwealth (federal) Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and Proceeds of Crime (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2002 bite as the strains of Auld Lang Syne fade away. 1 January 2003 marks the beginning of a new "get touch" regime.
Brought into effect with commendable alacrity, the Act and Bill were passed only on 23 September 2003.
Together, they permit confiscation prior to conviction and civil forfeiture. The Proceeds of Crime Bill 2002 allows courts to freeze and confiscate assets where the Director of Public Prosecutions can prove on the 'balance of probabilities' that a person has engaged in serious criminal activity in the previous six years, or that the property is the proceeds of a particular offence. It will not be necessary to obtain a conviction.
Australia has had post conviction confiscation laws for a number of years but the new measures are considerably stronger, matching, largely, the provisions in Ireland and the new laws in the UK.
The Bill also forms an important part of the Government's anti-terrorism response, enhancing the capacity of law enforcement agencies to freeze and confiscate property relating to terrorist offences - passed a matter of two weeks or so before the Bali bombs.
Several states are producing their own legislation with a similar objective.
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