The Crimes Legislation Amendment (Organised Crime and Other Measures) Bill 2012 was introduced in the House of Reps on Wed 28.11.2012. Among other things, the Bill amends the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (the ‘POC Act’) to improve the investigation and litigation of unexplained wealth matters and to improve the Commonwealth’s ability to confiscate unexplained wealth.
In July 2011, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement initiated an inquiry into Commonwealth unexplained wealth laws, the purpose of which was to examine the operation of the existing laws, identify relevant issues and determine ways in which the laws could be made more effective. The Committee handed down its final report in March 2012, which made 18 recommendations. The amendments in the Bill represent the first tranche of legislative measures introduced by the Government to implement recommendations of the Committee. These amendments propose to:
- ensure evidence relevant to unexplained wealth proceedings can be seized under a search warrant;
- allow the time limit for serving notice of a preliminary unexplained wealth order to be extended by a court in appropriate circumstances, such as where a person seeks to avoid service;
- harmonise provisions relating to the payment of legal expenses for unexplained wealth cases with those for other POC Act proceedings so as to prevent restrained and forfeited assets being used to meet legal expenses;
- allow charges to be created over restrained property to secure payment of an unexplained wealth order as can occur with other types of proceeds of crime order.
[LTN 231, 28/11]