Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police v Safadi [2013] VCC 2057
On 23 December 2013, Judge Millane published her ruling in AFP v Safadi, granting a stay of the forfeiture proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (Commonwealth) (POCA) pending the hearing of the criminal trial against Mr Safadi.
The ruling in Safadi appears to be the first ruling by which an accused has succeeded in staying proceedings under the POCA pending the determination of the criminal charges.
The ruling closely follows the unsuccessful application made by an accused in Qing Zhao & Anor v AFP, decided by judge Lacava only three weeks ago (which was the subject of discussion in the newsletter of 3 December 2013). That ruling is now the subject of leave to appeal.
As today’s ruling demonstrates, in order to succeed with a stay application on behalf of an accused it is necessary to demonstrate a real risk of prejudice to an accused arising from the overlap between the issues to be dealt with in the criminal proceeding and the forfeiture proceeding.
