Cap. 9 Art. 23CForfeiture of propertyderived from criminal activity.

(1) Where it is established that the value of the property of the person found guilty of a relevant offence is disproportionate to his lawful income and the court can reasonably presume that it is substantially more probable, that the property in question has been obtained from the criminal activity of that person rather than from other activities, that property shall be liable to forfeiture.

(2) (a) When a person has been found guilty of a relevant offence and in consequence thereof any moneys or other movable property or any immovable property is liable to forfeiture, the provisions of article 22(3A)(b) and (7) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance shall apply mutatis mutandis in the circumstances mentioned in those paragraphs.

(b) the Court shall order the forfeiture in favour of the Government of such moneys or other movable property and such immovable property of the person found guilty of the relevant offence which constitute the proceeds of the said offence even if the movable or immovable property has since the offender was charged passed into the hands of third parties and even if the said moneys, movable property or immovable property are situated in any place outside Malta.

(3) Where a person has been charged or accused of a relevant offence which is liable to give rise, directly or indirectly, to an economic benefit, and proceedings cannot continue due to the illness or absconding of the said person, and the court based on specific facts is fully convinced that such proceedings could have led to the conviction of the person charged or accused had he appeared in the proceedings or stood trial, it shall be lawful for the court to order the confiscation of the instrumentalities and proceeds of the said offence: For the purposes of this sub-article "illness" shall mean the inability of the suspected or accused person to attend the criminal proceedings for an extended period, as a result of which the proceedings cannot continue under normal conditions.

(4) Saving the provisions of sub-article (2) the Court shall in addition to any other punishment, in its sentence or at any time thereafter, order the forfeiture of all proceeds or other property the value of which corresponds to proceeds, which, directly or indirectly, were transferred by a suspected or accused person to a third party, or which were acquired by a third party from a suspected or accused person, when the third party knew or ought to have known that the purpose of the transfer or acquisition was to avoid confiscation.

(5) Nothing shall preclude the detection and tracing of property as provided for under this Code or any other law, to be frozen and confiscated after a final conviction for an offence or following proceedings in terms of sub-article (3), and to ensure the effective execution of a confiscation order, when such an order has already been issued. (6) Repealed by Act VI.2024.5.