18 Mar 2024

The office of the Receiver has seen a substantial increase in its responsibilities, as evidenced by a rise in court orders for the seizure and return of various types of property.

This was said by Minister of Justice, Mr Machana Shamukuni, when presenting the office of the Receiver’s budget proposals for 2024/2025 financial year in Parliament on Thursday.

Mr Shamukuni said over the past year, the number of court orders had increased from 42 to 55, which evidenced the criminal justice system’s efforts to deprive criminals of the benefits of the proceeds and instrumentalities of their criminal activities.

“As of January 2024, the total value of properties under the Receiver’s management has experienced a commendable uptick, reaching over P164 million,” he said.

Mr Shamukuni said this represented a noticeable increase from the previous year’s figure of over P136 million, underscoring the effectiveness of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions in securing proceeds and instruments of crime.

“However, challenges persist in the storage and high cost of maintenance of restrained properties under receivership, due to prolonged litigation which impedes disposal of most of the properties,” he said.

To this end, Mr Shamukuni stated that mitigation measures had been implemented, which included collaborations with other law enforcement agencies for purposes of storage and maintenance of some of the properties.

The minister further stated that the active role of the office of the Receiver in managing the Confiscated Assets Trust Fund was apparent in the substantial increase in total funds forfeited to the state which stood at over P6 million.

“This is a significant rise from the previous year of over P2 million,” he said.

He added that the increase was attributed to successful auctions of proceeds and instruments of crime, generating to over P1 million.

Mr Shamukuni further noted that the funds used in the Confiscated Assets Trust Fund could be used to compensate and rehabilitate victims of crime and for capacity building and training programmes for law enforcement agencies involved in the fight against crimes such as money laundering, racketeering and terrorism financing.“To that end an amount of over P750 000 was disbursed from the Confiscated Assets Trust Fund to compensate a victim of the offence obtaining by false pretences,” he said. ENDS