{"id":2554,"date":"2022-03-17T15:36:15","date_gmt":"2022-03-17T15:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/?p=2554"},"modified":"2022-03-24T16:18:57","modified_gmt":"2022-03-24T16:18:57","slug":"senate-passes-the-proceeds-of-crime-bill-rescinds-decision-on-one-clause","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/senate-passes-the-proceeds-of-crime-bill-rescinds-decision-on-one-clause\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate Passes the Proceeds of Crime Bill, Rescinds Decision on One Clause"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Senate on Wednesday, 9th<\/sup> March 2022, passed the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Bill. The bill seeks to provide an effective legal and institutional framework for the recovery and management of the proceeds of crime, as well as the restraint, seizure, confiscation and forfeiture of property derived from unlawful activities. It also seeks to provide for a non-conviction based procedure for the recovery of crime proceeds. It further seeks to establish a \u2018Confiscated and Forfeited Properties Account\u2019, where recovered proceeds of crime forfeited to the Federal Government, will be paid into, among others. To administer the provisions of the bill, a Proceeds of Crime (Management) Directorate will be established in relevant government agencies such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the Senate on Tuesday, 15th<\/sup>\nMarch rescinded its decision on clause 74 of the bill, which provides that: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe burden of proof shall be on the investigating agencies and there shall be a conviction before the property can be finally seized or forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria<\/strong><\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Senate, this provision which\nplaces the burden of proof on the investigating agencies and not on the\ndefendant, contravenes Article 12(7)<\/strong> of the United Nations Convention\nagainst Transnational Organised Crime (UNTOC) which provides that: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cState parties may consider the possibility of requiring that an offender demonstrate the lawful origin of alleged proceeds of crime or other property liable to confiscation, to the extent that such a requirement is consistent with the principles of their domestic law and with the nature of the judicial and other proceedings<\/strong>.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the recission of the Senate\u2019s\ndecision on this clause, the bill was then referred to the Joint Committee on\nJudiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters and the Anti-corruption and Financial\nCrimes Committee for further legislative action. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is unclear if the bill only applies to public\nproperty and assets or that it extends to privately owned property. It is however\nnoteworthy to point out that clause 80 (c)  of the bill provides for the compensation of\nany person who has suffered grave pecuniary loss on account of the offence or\nconduct that gave rise to the confiscation or forfeiture order. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also important to note that the bill seeks\nto have a retroactive effect on acts, omissions and conducts that constitute\nunlawful activity. This is to say that the bill will apply to offences that\noccurred before its commencement, if signed into law. This needs to be\ncritically examined to ensure that such retroactive effect takes into account,\nthe elements of predictability, certainty and equality which underlie the rule\nof law, to ensure that justice is done in each instance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill fails to create penalties for officers in \u2018relevant\norganisations\u2019 who may abuse their position while enforcing\/administering its\nprovisions. This is particularly important in the light of the powers granted\nto relevant organisations under the bill to execute contracts, engage\ncontractors and other personnel, dispose assets subject to a forfeiture order\nof court, or do anything they consider appropriate for the performance of their\nfunctions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill if passed, would create a recognised\nframework for dealing with recovered proceeds of crime and aid the efforts of\nrelevant government agencies set up to deal with financial misappropriation. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Senate on Wednesday, 9th March 2022, passed the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Bill. The bill seeks to provide an effective legal and institutional framework for the recovery and management of the proceeds of crime, as well as the restraint, seizure, confiscation and forfeiture of property derived from unlawful activities. It also seeks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2554"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2564,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2554\/revisions\/2564"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}