On 10 February 2021, Schmidt AJ delivered reasons in Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police v Pratten [2021] NSWSC 69. Mr Pratten had been convicted of concealing large parts of his taxable income and was convicted of offences of dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage by deception from the Commonwealth by lodging tax returns which did … Continue reading AFP v Pratten: Pecuniary Penalty Orders
GWE v AFP; Costs or Indemnity Costs
On 21 December 2020, the NSW Court of Appeal (Bathurst CJ; Bell P; Emmett AJA) published reasons in Gwe v Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police (No 2) [2020] NSWCA 350. The appeal had been allowed so as to grant exclusion orders in respect of restrained property. The issue was whether section 323 of the Proceeds of Crime … Continue reading GWE v AFP; Costs or Indemnity Costs
Variation of Restraining Orders – Pharmacy Depot Hurstville
On 6 November 2020, Walton J published reasons in The Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police v Pharmacy Depot Hurstville Pty Ltd (in liq) (No 2) [2020] NSWSC 1571. In that case, a liquidator of a company which had its bank account restrained under section 18 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) sought … Continue reading Variation of Restraining Orders – Pharmacy Depot Hurstville
No time limit extensions possible for revocation applications – Zheng v AFP
The Full Court of the South Australian Supreme Court, in Zheng v Commissioner of the AFP [2019] SASCFC 157 (Parker J, Kourakis CJ and Kelly J agreeing) has determined that the Full Court’s earlier decision in Ruzehaji v Commissioner of Australian Federal Police (2015) 124 SASR 355, which suggested that the 28 day period within which … Continue reading No time limit extensions possible for revocation applications – Zheng v AFP
Variation of restraining orders to access funds for reasonable living and business expenses – COVID-19
All confiscation regimes operating in Australia, whether at State or Commonwealth level, contain mechanisms for accessing restrained funds to pay living and business expenses from restrained assets. The tests vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction but the underlying theme remains the same. If a person whose assets are restrained can demonstrate that they have insufficient unrestrained … Continue reading Variation of restraining orders to access funds for reasonable living and business expenses – COVID-19