Section 6

Subject to section 30, where a defendant is convicted of one or more drug dealing offences, the court must, on the application of the Public Prosecutor, make a confiscation order against the defendant in respect of benefits derived by the defendant from drug dealing if the court is satisfied that those benefits have been so derived.

If the court is satisfied that benefits have been derived by the defendant from drug dealing, the court must, at any time after sentencing or otherwise dealing with the defendant in respect of the offence or any of the offences concerned (as the case may be), determine in accordance with section 13 the amount to be recovered in the defendant’s case by virtue of this section.

The court must not take into account any application or proposed application for a confiscation order in determining the appropriate sentence or other manner of dealing with the defendant in respect of the drug dealing offences concerned.

Where the court which convicted the defendant is for any reason unable to determine the amount to be recovered under subsection (2), the determination and confiscation order (if any) may be made by the Registrar.

Any relevant evidence admitted in the proceedings against the defendant for the drug dealing offence concerned is to be, if the court or the Registrar thinks fit, taken into account in determining the amount to be recovered under subsection (2) or (4).

Subject to section 31, for the purposes of this Act, a person who holds or has at any time (whether before or after 30 November 1993) held any property or any interest therein disproportionate to the person’s known sources of income, the holding of which cannot be explained to the satisfaction of the court, is until the contrary is proved presumed to have derived benefits from drug dealing.

Any expenditure by a person mentioned in subsection (6) (whether incurred before or after 30 November 1993) is, until the contrary is proved, presumed to have been met out of the person’s benefits derived from drug dealing.

The presumption referred to in subsection (6) or (7) is not rebutted merely by adducing proof to the effect that the property or interest therein was derived from criminal conduct.

To avoid doubt, a District Court or Magistrate’s Court may make a confiscation order under subsection (1) in respect of the full amount determined in accordance with section 13 to be the value of the benefits derived by the defendant from drug dealing.

In this section, a reference to property or interest in property includes a reference to income accruing from such property or interest.[4