HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL-8 March 1989
香港立法局
First Reading of Bill
一九八九年三月八日
DRUG TRAFFICKING (RECOVERY OF PROCEEDS) BILL 1989
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Bill read the First time and ordered to be set down for Second Reading pursuant to Standing Order 41(3).
Second Reading of Bills
DRUG TRAFFICKING (RECOVERY OF PROCEEDS) BILL 1989
THE SECRETARY FOR SECURITY moved the Second Reading of: "A Bill to provide for the tracing, confiscation and recovery of the proceeds of drug trafficking, to create the offence of assisting drug traffickers to retain those proceeds, and for incidental or related matters".
He said: Sir, I move that the Drug Trafficking (Recovery of Proceeds) Bill 1989 be read a Second time.
The Bill seeks to empower the courts to freeze and to confiscate the proceeds of drug trafficking; it proposes new powers of investigation to permit the identification of such proceeds; it will create new offences of assisting a person to retain or to conceal the proceeds of drug trafficking; and it will establish a framework for the enforcement of confiscation orders made by the courts of other countries.
It is widely recognized that one of the most effective measures to combat illicit drug trafficking is to deprive the traffickers of their ill-gotten gains. At present the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance has provision for the forfeiture of money or property received by any person as a result of a drug trafficking offence. However, this applies only where the money or property can be proved to be related directly to the specific offence for which a person has been charged. The wealth accumulated by a trafficker from his past illegal activities can thus remain largely intact and available to him, despite his conviction on a specific offence.
Clause 3 of the Bill will empower the High Court or District Court, before sentencing a convicted drug trafficker, to determine whether the offender has benefitted from drug trafficking, irrespective of whether or not this benefit has resulted from the offence of which he has been convicted. If he has so benefitted, the court will assess his proceeds and impose a confiscation order. For the purpose of this assessment, the court may make certain rebuttable
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