Commentary on Sections Part 5: Civil Recovery of the Proceeds etc. of Unlawful Conduct Supplementary Section 301: Victims and other owners
416.Section 301 allows the true owner of detained cash to apply for its release. Two cases are provided for. Subsection (3) relates to a person who claims that some or all of the cash rightfully belongs to him, and he was deprived of it through unlawful conduct. An example of this would be a person who claims that the cash was stolen from him. If the court is satisfied, it may order the applicant’s cash to be released to him.
417.Subsection (4) relates to the case of any other true owner who is not the person from whom the cash was seized. Here, if the court is satisfied, the cash may be released – but only if the person from whom it was seized does not object. That proviso is intended to prevent the court from becoming involved in a complicated ownership dispute between the person from whom the cash was seized and the rightful owner of the cash. Unlike subsection (3) the court will have to be satisfied that the cash is not recoverable property or intended for use in unlawful conduct before it can release to a claimed owner.