Digest No. 1658
Purpose
The aim of the Bill is to “ … make more effective provision for the confiscation of property that either represents the profits of criminal offending or was used to facilitate the commission of crime”
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"The Bill consists of 3 Parts. It is intended that, at the Committee of the whole House stage, subparts 1 and 2 of Part 3 will be divided from the rest of the Bill to become a separate Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Amendment Bill and a separate Sentencing Amendment Bill. Parts 1 and 2 will remain as the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Bill and on commencement replace the Proceeds of Crimes Act 1991"
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The Proceeds of Crime Act 1991 is to be repealed.
The Bill as introduced is described in Bills Digest No 1495.
Main changes to the Bill
Recovery body to be the Police
The Select Committee has recommended that the New Zealand Police be designated as the recovery body and provision be made for decisions of the Commissioner of Police under the Bill to be challengeable in the courts (Part 2, Subpart 6, amending Clause 91 and deleting Clause 92; and substituting the expression "Commissioner of Police" for the expression "Director of Criminal Proceeds Confiscation" throughout the Bill; deleting Clause 94 of the Bill ).
Definitions
Certain consequential, minor or clarificatory definition amendments are recommended (Part 1, Clause 5).
Immunity from liability
The Select Committee has recommended that there be a specific provisions in the Bill relating to immunity from liability for financial institutions and the people working for them who comply with Clauses 1o4, 113 and 114 of the Bill (basically complying with requirements to disclose information in the course of investigations of various sorts) (Part 2, Subpart 7, inserting new Clause 115A into the Bill).
