Crimes (Currency) Act 1981

Subject to section 29A, the following articles are forfeited to the Commonwealth:

all counterfeit money or counterfeit prescribed securities;

all machines, engines, tools, plates, dies or other instruments (including all parts thereof), being instruments:

that are known to have been used, to have been adapted for use, or to be intended for use, in, or in connection with, the making of counterfeit money or counterfeit prescribed securities; or

that are used or capable of use in, or in connection with, the making of genuine coins or genuine paper money and that have, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, been intentionally conveyed from premises on which the production of those coins or that paper money is or was carried on;

all bullion, paper, metal, ink, dye or other material:

that is known to be intended for use in, or in connection with, the making of counterfeit money or counterfeit prescribed securities; or

that is used or capable of use in, or in connection with, the making of genuine coins or genuine paper money and that has, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, been intentionally conveyed from premises on which the production of those coins or that paper money is or was carried on;

all material obtained by dealing with a genuine coin so as to diminish its weight;

all genuine coins that have, and all genuine paper money that has, without lawful authority, been wilfully defaced, disfigured or mutilated and all material obtained by the wilful destruction, without lawful authority, of any such coins or paper money;

all articles that have been, or are intended to be, used in connection with the commission of an offence against this Act.

A constable may, without warrant, seize any article that is forfeited to the Commonwealth, or that he or she has reasonable grounds to believe is forfeited to the Commonwealth, under subsection (1).

An officer of Custom may, without warrant, seize any article that is forfeited to the Commonwealth, or that he or she has reasonable grounds to believe is forfeited to the Commonwealth, under subsection (1), and shall forthwith deliver the article into the custody of a member of the Australian Federal Police.

A constable who has seized an article under subsection (2) or to whom an article has been delivered under subsection (3) may retain the article until the expiration of a period of 90 days after the seizure or the delivery, as the case may be, or, if a prosecution for an offence against a provision of this Act in relation to the article is instituted before the expiration of that period, until the prosecution is determined.

Where, on a prosecution referred to in subsection (4), a court convicts a person of an offence against a provision of this Act in relation to an article that is seized under subsection (2) or (3), the court:

if it is satisfied that the article is forfeited—shall order that the article be condemned; or

if it is not so satisfied—shall order that the article be delivered to such person as the court is satisfied is entitled to the article.

Where a prosecution for an offence against a provision of this Act in relation to an article seized under subsection (2) or (3) has not been instituted before the expiration of the period referred to in subsection (4), a constable shall take the article before a court of summary jurisdiction, and subsections 9(2), (2A) and (3) of the Crimes Act 1914 shall thereupon apply in relation to the article as if it had been taken before the court under subsection 9(1) of that Act.

An article that is condemned as forfeited to the Commonwealth under subsection (5) of this section or under subsection 9(2) of the Crimes Act 1914 in its application by virtue of subsection (6) of this section shall be dealt with or disposed of in accordance with the directions of the Treasurer.

In this section: