Against proposed dirty money law
Director of Public Prosecutions Kevin Zervos advocates the implementation of a civil forfeiture law that would allow the government to seize property before a criminal conviction or even criminal proceedings take place. He claims that this would make it easier to fight money laundering.
I refer to the report ("DPP wants easier way to seize dirty cash", April 22).
In the article, Director of Public Prosecutions Kevin Zervos advocates the implementation of a civil forfeiture law that would allow the government to seize property before a criminal conviction or even criminal proceedings take place. He claims that this would make it easier to fight money laundering.
All this law will do is erode private property protection guaranteed by the Basic Law.
In jurisdictions that have civil forfeiture available, the potential for abuse is massive because it's a convenient way to fund law enforcement agencies.
Mr Zervos even admitted that this is one of the perks of a civil forfeiture law.
In the United States, for example, cases of innocent people's homes and life savings being seized by the government through civil forfeiture via overzealous prosecutors, who ultimately never file criminal proceedings, are a regular occurrence.
Once assets are seized, they are nearly impossible to recover.