Commonwealth Numbered Acts

PROCEEDS OF CRIME ACT 1987 No. 87, 1987 - SECT 71

71. (1) Where:

   (a)  a person has been convicted of an indictable offence and a police
        officer has reasonable grounds for suspecting that there is upon any
        land, or upon or in any premises, a property-tracking document 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)   there is upon any land, or upon or in any premises, a
               property-tracking document 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)   the State or Territory in which the document is believed to be
               located;
an information on oath setting out those grounds; and

   (d)  apply to the Judge for a search warrant under subsection (4) in
        respect of the land or premises.

(2) Where a police officer applying for a warrant 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 a search warrant in
respect of land or premises, the Judge may, subject to subsections (5) and
(6), issue a search warrant authorising a police officer (whether or not named
in the warrant), with such assistance, and by such force, as is necessary and
reasonable:

   (a)  to enter upon the land or upon or into the premises;

   (b)  to search the land or premises for documents of the kind referred to
        in subsection (1); and

   (c)  to seize any document found in the course of the search that the
        police officer believes, on reasonable grounds, to be a document of
        that kind.

(5) A Judge shall not issue a search warrant under subsection (4) unless the
Judge is satisfied that:

   (a)  the document involved cannot be identified or described with
        sufficient particularity for the purpose of obtaining a
        production order in respect of the document;

   (b)  a production order has been given in respect of the document and has
        not been complied with;

   (c)  a production order in respect of the document would be unlikely to be
        effective because there are reasonable grounds to suspect that such a
        production order would not be complied with; or

   (d)  the investigation for the purposes of which the search warrant is
        being sought might be seriously prejudiced if the police officer does
        not gain immediate access to the document without notice to any
        person.

(6) A Judge shall not issue a search warrant under this section unless:

   (a)  the informant or some other person has given the Judge, either orally
        or by affidavit, any further information that the Judge requires
        concerning the grounds on which the search warrant is sought; and

   (b)  the Judge is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for issuing
        the search warrant.

(7) There shall be stated in a search warrant issued under this section:

   (a)  a statement of the purpose for which the warrant is issued, including
        a reference to the nature of the indictable offence that has been or
        is believed to have been committed;

   (b)  whether entry is authorised to be made at any time of the day or night
        or during specified hours of the day or night;

   (c)  a description of the kind of documents authorised to be seized; and

   (d)  a date, not being later than one month after the day of issue of the
        warrant, upon which the warrant ceases to have effect.

(8) If, in the course of searching, under a warrant issued under this section,
for a property-tracking document in relation to a particular offence, a
police officer finds:

   (a)  any document that the police officer believes, on reasonable grounds,
        to be:

        (i)    a property-tracking document in relation to the offence,
               although not of a kind specified in the warrant; or

        (ii)   a property-tracking document in relation to another indictable
               offence; or

   (b)  any thing that the police officer believes, on reasonable grounds,
        will afford evidence as to the commission of a criminal offence; and
        the police officer believes, on reasonable grounds, that it is
        necessary to seize that document or thing in order to prevent its
        concealment, loss or destruction, the warrant shall be deemed to
        authorise the police officer to seize that document or thing.