Commonwealth Numbered Acts

PROCEEDS OF CRIME ACT 1987 No. 87, 1987 - SECT 66

66. (1) Where:

   (a)  a person has been convicted of an indictable offence and a police
        officer has reasonable grounds for suspecting that a person has
        possession or control of a property-tracking document or
        property-tracking documents in relation to the offence; or

   (b)  a police officer has reasonable grounds for suspecting that:

        (i)    a person has committed an indictable offence; and

        (ii)   a person has possession or control of a
               property-tracking document or property-tracking documents in
               relation to the offence; the police officer may:

   (c)  lay before a Judge of the Supreme Court of:

        (i)    the State or Territory in which the person was convicted of the
               offence or in which the offence is believed to have been
               committed; or

        (ii)   a State or Territory in which the document is, or some or all
               of the documents are, believed to be located;
an information on oath setting out those grounds; and

   (d)  apply to the Judge for an order under subsection (4) against the
        person suspected of having possession or control of the document or
        documents; and

   (e)  apply for an order under subsection (4) against the person referred to
        in paragraph (b).

(2) Where a police officer applying for an order under this section in respect
of an offence includes in the information under subsection (1) information on
oath that the officer has reasonable grounds to believe that:

   (a)  the person who was convicted of the offence, or who is believed to
        have committed the offence, derived a benefit, directly or indirectly,
        from the commission of the offence; and

   (b)  property specified in the information is subject to the effective
        control of the person; the Judge may treat any document relevant to
        identifying, locating or quantifying that property as a
        property-tracking document in relation to the offence for the purposes
        of this section.

(3) In determining whether to treat a document, under subsection (2), as a
property-tracking document in relation to an offence, the Judge may have
regard to the matters referred to in subsection 28 (2).

(4) Where an application is made under subsection (1) for an order against a
person, the Judge may, subject to subsections (5) and (8), make an order that
the person:

   (a)  produce to a police officer any documents of the kind referred to in
        subsection (1) that are in the person's possession or control; or

   (b)  make available to a police officer, for inspection, any documents of
        that kind that are in the person's possession or control.

(5) An order under paragraph (4) (a) shall not be made in respect of bankers'
books.

(6) A Judge shall not make an order under this section unless:

   (a)  the informant or some other person has given the Judge, either orally
        or by affidavit, such information (if any) as the Judge requires
        concerning the grounds on which the order is sought; and

   (b)  the Judge is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for making
        the order.

(7) An order that a person produce a document or documents to a police officer
shall specify the time when and the place where the document is or the
documents are to be produced.

(8) An order that a person make a document or documents available to a
police officer for inspection shall specify the time or times when the
document is or the documents are to be made available.

(9) Where a document is produced to a police officer pursuant to an order
under this section, the police officer may do any one or more of the
following:

   (a)  inspect the document;

   (b)  take extracts from the document;

   (c)  make copies of the document;

   (d)  retain the document if, and for so long as, retention of the document
        is reasonably necessary for the purposes of this Act.

(10) Where a document is made available to a police officer for inspection
pursuant to an order under this section, the police officer may do any one or
more of the following:

   (a)  inspect the document;

   (b)  take extracts from the document;

   (c)  make copies of the document.

(11) Where a police officer retains a document pursuant to an order under this
section, the police officer shall, on request by the person to whom the order
was addressed:

   (a)  give the person a copy of the document certified by the police officer
        in writing to be a true copy of the document; and

   (b)  unless the person has received a copy of the document under paragraph
        (a)-permit the person to do any one or more of the following:

        (i)    inspect the document;

        (ii)   take extracts from the document;

        (iii)  make copies of the document.

(12) A person is not excused from producing or making available a document
when required to do so by an order under this section on the ground that:

   (a)  the production or making available of the document might tend to
        incriminate the person or make the person liable to a penalty; or

   (b)  the production or making available of the document would be in breach
        of an obligation (whether imposed by enactment or otherwise)
of the person not to disclose the existence or contents of the document.

(13) Where a person produces or makes available a document pursuant to an
order under this section, the production or making available of the document,
or any information, document or thing obtained as a direct or indirect
consequence of the production or making available of the document, is not
admissible against the person in any criminal proceedings except a proceeding
for an offence against subsection 68 (1).

(14) For the purposes of subsection (13), proceedings on an application for a
restraining order, a forfeiture order or a pecuniary penalty order are not
criminal proceedings.

(15) In this section:

"bankers' books" means any accounting records used in the ordinary business of
banking and includes ledgers, day-books, cash-books and account books.