Managing assets taken under the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act

The Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009 (the Act) is an important New Zealand law. It aims to stop serious crime by seizing the money and assets gained from it.

The Act allows the Crown to take assets it believes were gained illegally, even if no one is convicted of a crime. This system uses civil law. It puts the responsibility on the asset holder to prove their property was gained legally.

The Act focuses on serious crimes like drug trafficking, fraud, and organised crime. It is an important tool for protecting New Zealand’s financial and legal systems

Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009(external link) — New Zealand Legislation

The Official Assignee is appointed under the Public Service Act to administer the Act. Their work is managed by a team at the New Zealand Insolvency and Trustee Service.

When a court orders assets to be restrained or forfeited, the Official Assignee secures, maintains, and sells them if the court says to. These assets can include houses, vehicles, and other assets linked to proceeds of crime.

The Official Assignee also enforces Profit Forfeiture Orders to recover illegal income for the Crown. This work helps stop criminal profits from being used for more crime and supports justice.

After assets are taken and distributed under the Act, any leftover money goes into the Proceeds of Crime Fund. The Ministry of Justice manages this fund.

Eligible public and non-public service agencies can apply for funding to run programmes such as:

• rehabilitation programmes
• reducing drug harm
• disrupting organised crime.

More information is on the Ministry of Justice's Proceeds of Crime Fund page:

Proceeds of Crime Fund(external link) — New Zealand Ministry of Justice 

Care must be used in interpreting the following statistics. There is no correlation between the value of goods seized in a given year and the value of the net proceeds for the year for any or all of the following reasons:

• Prior to the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009, the CPMU was not in custody and control of assets in all cases and therefore cannot record them.
• Assets restrained in any given year are very rarely disposed of in that year.
• The restrained assets are returned to the owners in some circumstances.
• Some assets will depreciate if criminal proceedings last for a considerable period of time.
• A respondent’s living and other expenses may be paid from their seized property if so ordered by the Court, which reduces the value of assets that may ultimately be forfeited to the Crown.
• Sometimes material cannot be safely sold, and must be destroyed, such as assets that could be used as drug related equipment or assets that are heavily contaminated with drug related chemicals.

The table below shows

1. The number of new cases per year since the 1995/96 financial year and
2. The dollar value of assets restrained per year since the 2003/04 financial year.

¹Section 5 CPRA 2009 definitions – means an offence punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of five years or more; and includes an attempt to commit, conspiracy to commit, or being an accessory to an offence if the maximum term of imprisonment for that attempt, conspiracy or activity is five years or more.