the
The Chief Justice has been consulted on proposals. He has expressed serious reservations about the proposals for automatic indebtedness to the Crown. In his view, a fixed penalty of
of the kind proposed is very rough justice and, in any event is unlikely to have much effect. Probably most traffickers who are caught are small-scale peddlers, who will be incapable of paying the huge extra penalty suggested. In the few cases where a prosperous trafficker is caught, power already exists to fine him up to $5 million. Would it not be better merely to increase this limit? He argues that there are obvious objections in principle to empowering the Crown to impound the assets of a suspect, during investigation and long before a charge 18 brought. A man's property ought not
not to be frozen in this way, when nothing has been proved against him, without some safeguard. This could be provided by requiring a court order to be issued in all cases, as is necessary under the United Kingdom Act when a restraining
restraining order is issued. He supports legislation for confiscation orders on the lines of the Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986, as being preferable to the proposal for automatic indebtedness, though the practical difficulties of establishing the amount by which a defendant has benefited from drug trafficking will be considerable. his view, powers to freeze property ought not to be conferred on the Commissioner of Police or of Customs & Excise without court order.
PUBLIC REACTION
42
There appears to be widespread support for the proposals regarding automatic indebtedness to the Crown as outlined in paragraphs 6 to 17 above. It is expected that there would be support also for the alternative proposals regarding the imposition of confiscation orders on convicted drug traffickers described in paragraphs 22 to 31. If a decision is made to introduce legislation regarding confiscation orders, questions may be raised as to why the proposals regarding automatic indebtedness have been dropped even though there was widespread support for them. There may also be some concern about the possible abuse of the special powers which are proposed to be vested in the Commissioner of Police and the Commissioner of Customs & Excise.
PUBLICITY
43
No publicity is proposed at this Stage. Publicity will, however, be given when the Government's decision on the Discussion Document on Options for Changes in the Law and in the Administration of the Law to Counter the Triad Problem are Further publicity will be given in the form of a release when the enabling legislation is proposed. If płoposals in paragraphs 22 to 31 are approved, it could be
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