Owen plans major changes to FF Bill

THE Minister for Justice, Mrs Owen, is proposing extensive amendments to the Fianna Fail Bill providing for the freezing and disposal of the assets of suspected criminals.

Constitutional objections to the Bill have been overcome, and the amendments will increase its size to 18 sections rather than the original eight proposed by Fianna Fail.

The Organised Crime (Restraint and Disposal of Illicit Assets) Bill, moved by Fianna Fail after the murder of the journalist Veronica Guerin, enabled the High Court, on the application of a Garda chief superintendent or Revenue Commissioner, to freeze property if satisfied, on the balance of probabilities, that it was the proceeds of crime. It would also allow for the disposal of assets after a period of years.

The Minister's amendments, which will be debated by the Dail next Thursday, reaffirm that there will be an initial freezing order for 21 days but not longer. There will also be a more permanent (interlocutory) freezing order to last for seven years.

As in the Fianna Fail Bill, Mrs Owen is proposing that "opinion evidence" will be admissible in hearings on freezing orders, subject to a test of reasonableness. Unlike the original measure, the amendments will apply to the proceeds of crime in general, but subject to the monetary limit of £10,000 in the Bill.

Mrs Owen is maintaining the Fianna Fail provision that the onus will be on the person claiming to own the property to prove at the interlocutory hearing, on the balance of probabilities, that the property is not the proceeds of crime.

As in the original Bill, provision will be made for submission to a court of details of property and income by the person claim to own the assets, but, unlike the Bill, the sanction for inadequate details will be a matter for the court and will not automatically extend to the ultimate disposal of the property.

The most fundamental change being proposed is that the onus will be kept on the person claiming to be the owner at the disposal stage. Otherwise, the effect of the Bill could be limited to freezing property, according to Mrs Owen, albeit for a number of years, with the near inevitability of having to hand it back at the end of that time because of difficulties of proof which do not apply at the freezing stage.

In another new provision, the Minister intends to legislate on the practicalities of managing property, such as the appointment of receivers and the registration of freezing orders, and for eventualities such as bankruptcy and the winding up of companies. The provision for compensation is being maintained.