DANGEROUS DRUGS (FORFEITURE OF PROPERTY) ACT 1988

LAWS OF MALAYSIA ONLINE VERSION OF UPDATED TEXT OF REPRINT Act 340 DANGEROUS DRUGS (FORFEITURE OF PROPERTY) ACT 1988 As at 1 December 2011 2 DANGEROUS DRUGS (FORFEITURE OF PROPERTY) ACT 1988 Date of Royal Assent ... ... ... … … 11 May 1988 Date of publication in the Gazette… ... 9 June 1988 PREVIOUS REPRINTS First Reprint ... ... ... ... ... 2001 Second Reprint ... ... ... ... ... 2006 3 LAWS OF MALAYSIA Act 340 DANGEROUS DRUGS (FORFEITURE OF PROPERTY) ACT 1988 ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS P ART I PRELIMINARY Section 1. Short title 2. Interpretation P ART II OFFENCES IN RELATION TO PROPERTY 3. Use of property for activity constituting certain offences 4. Dealing with, or using, holding, receiving or concealing illegal property 5. Forfeiture of property upon conviction for an offence under section 3 or 4 6. Forfeiture on proof of offence under section 3 or 4 P ART III FORFEITURE OF PROPERTY OF LIABLE PERSONS 7. Persons liable to be proceeded against under this Part 4 Laws of Malaysia ACT 340 Section 8. Application to the High Court 9. Notice to show cause against forfeiture 10. Forfeiture of property in certain cases 11. Forfeiture of certain types of property 12. Certain dealings to be null and void 13. Proceedings not to abate upon death of person affected 14. Proceedings under this Part to be within the criminal jurisdiction of the High Court P ART IV ARREST, INVESTIGATION AND SEIZURE 15. Power of arrest and detention 16. Power of entry, search and seizure 17. Search of person 18. Obstruction of inspection and search 19. Indemnity 20. Power to intercept communication 21. Special powers of investigation 22. Public Prosecutor’s powers to obtain information 23. Public Prosecutor’s powers to request information from certain officers 24. Order by Public Prosecutor in relation to a person intended to be proceeded against under section 8, or intended to be or being prosecuted for certain offences 25. Seizure of movable property 26. Further provisions relating to seizure of movable property 27. Special provision relating to seizure of a business 28. Seizure of immovable property 29. Dealings with seized property after seizure to be void 30. Validity of seizure, or sale in consequence thereof, not to be affected by certain objections Dangerous Drugs (Forfeiture of Property) 5 Section 31. Release of property seized 32. Forfeiture of property seized under this Act where there is no prosecution, or no proceedings under Part III or no claim thereto P ART V FORFEITURE 33. Vesting of forfeited property in the Government P ART VI EVIDENCE AND PROCEDURE 34. Construction and interpretation of this Act 35. Presumption as to liable person and illegal property 36. Admissibility of documentary and other evidence obtained by the Public Prosecutor in exercise of any power under this Act 37. Examination of offenders 38. Protection of informers 39. Evidence of agent provocateur admissible 40. Notice or order not to be invalid for error in description 41. Power of a police officer under other laws relating to criminal procedure P ART VII ASSISTANCE TO A FOREIGN COUNTRY 42. Interpretation 43. Request for assistance and authority to render same 44. Information and particulars in relation to persons, bodies, etc. 45. Service of processes or documents 46. Transmission of copies of statements, or records, or results of investigation in Malaysia 47. Examination of witness by a police officer 6 Laws of Malaysia ACT 340 Section 48. Examination of witness by a Magistrate 49. Search of person or premises 50. Seizure and transmission of property or article 51. Interception of communication 52. Exercise of powers of investigation by the Public Prosecutor 53. Manner or mode of transmission of information, statements, evidence, movable property, etc., to foreign government or foreign authority 54. Transfer of a person in custody in Malaysia into the custody of an authority in a foreign country 55. Payment by a foreign government to the Malaysian Government under this Part 56. Attempts, abetments and criminal conspiracies punishable as offences 57. No bail to be granted in respect of certain offences 58. Offences by bodies corporate or unincorporate and by servants and agents 59. Service of any notice or order 60. General penalty 61. Rewards 62. Regulations 63. Extradition F IRST S CHEDULE SECOND SCHEDULE 7 LAWS OF MALAYSIA Act 340 DANGEROUS DRUGS (FORFEITURE OF PROPERTY) ACT 1988 An Act to make provisions for offences in relation to property, and for the seizure and forfeiture of property, connected with activity related to offences under this Act, the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, or any foreign law corresponding to these Acts or to the provisions for offences under these Acts; for assistance to foreign countries in relation to matters connected with dangerous drugs; and for matters connected with the aforesaid provisions. [10 June 1988] W HEREAS action has been taken and further similar action is being threatened by a substantial body of persons both inside and outside Malaysia— (1) to organize and carry out trafficking in dangerous drugs, including their importation into and exportation from Malaysia; (2) to spread the dependence on dangerous drugs among various classes of people in Malaysia, thereby causing widespread detriment to public health, security, safety and morals; and (3) to acquire property by trafficking in dangerous drugs and to utilize property for such trafficking; AND WHEREAS the action taken and threatened is prejudicial to public order in Malaysia; 8 Laws of Malaysia ACT 340 AND WHEREAS Parliament considers it necessary to stop such action; Now, therefore, pursuant to Article 149 of the Constitution BE IT ENACTED by the Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong with the advice and consent of the Dewan Negara and Dewan Rakyat in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: P ART I PRELIMINARY Short title 1. This Act may be cited as the Dangerous Drugs (Forfeiture of Property) Act 1988. Interpretation 2. (1) Subject to subsection (2), and unless the context otherwise requires, terms and expressions used in this Act have the same meaning as assigned thereto in the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 [Act 234]. (2) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires— ―associate‖, in relation to a person, includes— (a) any person who had been or is residing in the residential premises (including appurtenances) of such person; (b) any person who had been or is an agent or nominee of such person; (c) any person who had been or is managing the affairs or keeping the accounts of such person; (d) any partnership firm of which such person, or any Dangerous Drugs (Forfeiture of Property) 9 agent or nominee of his, is or had been a partner or a person in charge or control of its business or affairs; (e) any corporation within the meaning of the Companies Act 1965 [Act 125], of which such person, or any agent or nominee of his, had been or is a director or had been or is in charge of or control of its business or affairs, or in which such person, together with any agent or nominee of his, has or have, or had, shares to the total value of not less than ten per centum of the total issued capital of the corporation; (f) any person who had been or is a partner, or a person in charge or control of the business or affairs, of a partnership firm referred to in paragraph (d) at any time when such person, or any agent or nominee of his, had been or is a partner in the partnership firm; (g) any person who had been or is a director, or a person in charge or control of the business or affairs, of a corporation referred to in paragraph (e) at any time when such person, or any agent or nominee of his, had been or is a director, or had been or is in charge or control of the business or affairs, of the corporation, or at any time when such person, together with any agent or nominee of his, has or have, or had, shares to the total value of not less than ten per centum of the total issued capital of the corporation; (h) any person who had been or is an agent of any partnership firm or corporation referred to in paragraph (d) or (e) respectively; (i) any person who had been or is keeping the accounts of any partnership firm or corporation referred to in 10 Laws of Malaysia ACT 340 paragraph (d) or (e) respectively; (j) the trustee of any trust, where— (i) the trust has been created by such person; or (ii) the total value of the assets contributed by such person to the trust at any time, whether before or after the creation of the trust, amounts, or had amounted, at any time, to not less than twenty per centum of the total value of the assets of the trust; (k) any person who has in his possession any property belonging to such person; and (l) any person who is indebted to such person; ―bank‖ means a bank licensed under the *Banking Act 1973 [Act 102], or an Islamic bank licensed under the Islamic Banking Act 1983 [Act 276], or a merchant bank, or any person carrying on any banking business under any written law, or a licensed finance company under the **Finance Companies Act 1969 [Act 6], or the National Savings Bank established under the Bank Simpanan Nasional Act 1974 [Act 146], or any co-operative society registered under any written law relating to co-operative societies; ―banker’s books‖ includes ledgers, day books, cash books, account books and all other books and documents used in the ordinary course of the business of a bank; ―business‖ means any activity carried on for the purpose of gain or profit and includes all property derived from or used in or for the purpose of carrying on such activity, and all rights and liabilities arising from such activity; *NOTE—The Banking Act 1973 [Act 102] has since been repealed by the Banking and Financial Institutions Act 1989 [Act 372]–see section 128 of Act 372. **NOTE—The Finance Companies Act 1969 [Act 6] has since been repealed by the Banking and Financial Institutions Act 1989 [Act 372]–see section 128 of Act 372. Dangerous Drugs (Forfeiture of Property) 11 ―conviction‖ includes any finding of guilt or any order involving any finding of guilt by any court of competent authority in Malaysia or outside Malaysia, regardless whether or not the conviction or finding of guilt is ordered to be recorded, and whether or not the person convicted or found guilty is sentenced to any punishment; ―corresponding foreign law‖ or ―foreign law corresponding to‖ means the provision of any law of any country, territory or place outside Malaysia which is similar in whole, or in part, or in substance, to the Malaysian law in relation to which this expression is used; ―dealing‖ includes— (a) a purchase, sale, loan, charge, mortgage, lien, pledge, caveat, transfer, delivery, assignment, subrogation, transmission, gift, donation, trust, settlement, deposit, withdrawal, transfer between accounts, extension of credit; (b) any purchase or sale of any securities, monetary instrument, or other instrument whatsoever by whatever means effected; (c) any agency or grant of power of attorney; and (d) any other disposition or dealing in whatever form, or of whatever description or nature, howsoever styled, which results in any right, interest, title or privilege, whether present or future or whether vested or contingent, in the whole or part of any property being conferred on any person; ―designated police officer‖ means a police officer of the rank of Superintendent or above, designated in writing by name or office by the Inspector General of Police for the purposes of this Act either generally or in relation to any specific provision of this Act; 12 Laws of Malaysia ACT 340 ―diminished in value‖, in relation to any property, means the whole or part of the property being expended, utilized, destroyed, or being subjected to any dealing, process or other act, so that it ceases to exist, or is reduced in value o