47Forfeiture orders—conduct constituting serious offences

47 Forfeiture orders—conduct constituting serious offences

(1) A court with *proceeds jurisdiction must make an order that property specified in the order is forfeited to the Commonwealth if: (a) the *responsible authority for a *restraining order under section 18 that covers the property applies for an order under this subsection; and (b) the restraining order has been in force for at least 6 months; and (c) the court is satisfied that a person whose conduct or suspected conduct formed the basis of the restraining order engaged in conduct constituting one or more *serious offences.

Note: The order can be made before the end of the period of 6 months referred to in paragraph (1)(b) if it is made as a consent order: see section 316.

(2) A finding of the court for the purposes of paragraph (1)(c) need not be based on a finding as to the commission of a particular offence, and can be based on a finding that some *serious offence or other was committed. (3) The raising of a doubt as to whether a person engaged in conduct constituting a *serious offence is not of itself sufficient to avoid a finding by the court under paragraph (1)(c). Refusal to make a forfeiture order (4) Despite subsection (1), the court may refuse to make an order under that subsection relating to property that the court is satisfied: (a) is an *instrument of a *serious offence other than a *terrorism offence; and (b) is not *proceeds of an offence; if the court is satisfied that it is not in the public interest to make the order.