Dealing with property reasonably suspected of being proceeds of crime etc
400.9 Dealing with property reasonably suspected of being proceeds of crime etc
A person commits an offence if:
the person deals with money or other property; and
it is reasonable to suspect that the money or property is proceeds of indictable crime; and
at the time of the dealing, the value of the money and other property is $10,000,000 or more.
Penalty: Imprisonment for 5 years, or 300 penalty units, or both.
A person commits an offence if:
the person deals with money or other property; and
it is reasonable to suspect that the money or property is proceeds of indictable crime; and
at the time of the dealing, the value of the money and other property is $1,000,000 or more.
Penalty: Imprisonment for 4 years, or 240 penalty units, or both.
A person commits an offence if:
the person deals with money or other property; and
it is reasonable to suspect that the money or property is proceeds of indictable crime; and
at the time of the dealing, the value of the money and other property is $100,000 or more.
Penalty: Imprisonment for 3 years, or 180 penalty units, or both.
A person commits an offence if:
the person deals with money or other property; and
it is reasonable to suspect that the money or property is proceeds of indictable crime; and
at the time of the dealing, the value of the money and other property is less than $100,000.
Penalty: Imprisonment for 2 years, or 120 penalty units, or both.
For the purposes of this section, it is taken to be reasonable to suspect that money or other property is proceeds of indictable crime if:
the conduct constituting the offence involves a number of transactions that are structured or arranged to avoid the reporting requirements of the repealed Financial Transaction Reports Act 1988 that would otherwise apply to the transactions; or
the conduct involves a number of transactions that are structured or arranged to avoid the reporting requirements of the Anti‑Money Laundering and Counter‑Terrorism Financing Act 2006 that would otherwise apply to the transactions; or
the conduct involves using one or more accounts held with ADIs in false names; or
the conduct amounts to an offence against section 139, 140 or 141 of the Anti‑Money Laundering and Counter‑Terrorism Financing Act 2006; or
the value of the money and property involved in the conduct is, in the opinion of the trier of fact, grossly out of proportion to the defendant’s income and expenditure over a reasonable period within which the conduct occurs; or
the conduct involves a significant cash transaction within the meaning of the repealed Financial Transaction Reports Act 1988, and the defendant:
has contravened his or her obligations under that Act relating to reporting the transaction; or
has given false or misleading information in purported compliance with those obligations; or
the conduct involves a threshold transaction (within the meaning of the Anti‑Money Laundering and Counter‑Terrorism Financing Act 2006) and the defendant:
has contravened the defendant’s obligations under that Act relating to reporting the transaction; or
has given false or misleading information in purported compliance with those obligations; or
the defendant:
has stated that the conduct was engaged in on behalf of or at the request of another person; and
has not provided information enabling the other person to be identified and located.
Absolute liability applies to paragraphs (1AA)(b) and (c), (1AB)(b) and (c), (1)(b) and (c) and (1A)(b) and (c).
This section does not apply if the defendant proves that he or she had no reasonable grounds for suspecting that the money or property was derived or realised, directly or indirectly, from some form of unlawful activity.
A defendant bears a legal burden in relation to the matter in subsection (5) (see section 13.4).
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