Criminal Property Confiscation Act 2000

Property that is wholly or partly derived or realised, directly or indirectly, from the commission of a confiscation offence is crime‑derived, whether or not —

anyone has been charged with or convicted of the offence; or

anyone who directly or indirectly derived or realised the property from the commission of the offence has been identified; or

anyone who directly or indirectly derived or realised the property from the commission of the offence was involved in the commission of the offence.

Without limiting subsection (1), property of the following kinds is crime‑derived —

stolen property;

property bought with or exchanged for crime‑derived property;

property acquired by legitimate means that could not have been acquired if crime‑derived property had not been used for other purposes;

any thing of monetary value acquired, in Australia or elsewhere, from the commercial exploitation of any product, or of any broadcast, telecast or other publication, where the commercial value of the product, broadcast, telecast or other publication depends on or is derived from a person’s involvement in the commission of a confiscation offence, whether or not the thing was lawfully acquired and whether or not anyone has been charged with or convicted of the offence.

The reference in subsection (2)(b) to crime‑derived property is not limited to crime‑derived property described in subsection (1) or in subsection (2)(a), (c) or (d), but also includes a reference to property that is crime‑derived property because of a previous operation or previous operations of subsection (2)(b).

In subsection (4B) —

Subsection (4C) applies if —

a person is convicted of a confiscation offence; and

at the time of the commission of the offence, the person was a member of a declared criminal organisation.

If this subsection applies, it is presumed that all the property that the person owns or effectively controls at the time of the commission of the confiscation offence is crime‑derived property, unless the person establishes the contrary.

Once property becomes crime‑derived property it remains crime‑derived property even if it is disposed of, used to acquire other property or otherwise dealt with, unless it stops being crime‑derived property under subsection (8).

Property owned by 2 or more people, whether jointly or as tenants in common, is crime‑derived if any part of the share of any of the owners is crime‑derived, whether or not any of the owners is an innocent party in relation to the share or part‑share that is crime‑derived.

If a person once owned crime‑derived property, but was divested of the property in such a way that it stopped being crime‑derived property under subsection (8), then, if the person acquires the property again, it becomes crime‑derived property again.

For the purposes of deciding whether property is crime‑derived, the proceeds of a sale or other dealing do not lose their identity as those proceeds only as a result of being credited to an account.

Crime‑derived property stops being crime‑derived property —

when it is acquired by an innocent party; or

if it is frozen property — when the freezing order is set aside under section 83; or

if it has been confiscated — when the court orders its release under section 87; or

if it is money to be paid into the Confiscation Proceeds Account under section 131(1) — when it is paid into the Confiscation Proceeds Account; or

if it has been confiscated, but is not money — when the property is disposed of in accordance with regulations under section 140(2)(e); or

in any other circumstances prescribed by the regulations.