Criminal Justice Act, 1994
|
PART VI Drug Trafficking Money Imported or Exported in Cash | ||
|
Seizure and detention. |
38.—(1) A member of the Garda Síochána or an officer of customs and excise may seize and, in accordance with this section, detain any cash which is being imported into or exported from the State if its amount is not less than the prescribed sum and he has reasonable grounds for suspecting that it directly or indirectly represents any person's proceeds of, or is intended by any person for use in, drug trafficking. | |
(2) Cash seized by virtue of this section shall not be detained for more than forty-eight hours unless its detention beyond forty-eight hours is authorised by an order made by a judge of the District Court and no such order shall be made unless the judge is satisfied— | ||
(a) that there are reasonable grounds for the suspicion mentioned in subsection (1) of this section, and | ||
(b) that detention of the cash beyond forty-eight hours is justified while its origin or derivation is further investigated or consideration is given to the institution (whether in the State or elsewhere) of criminal proceedings against any person for an offence with which the cash is connected. | ||
(3) Any order under subsection (2) of this section shall authorise the continued detention of the cash to which it relates for such period, not exceeding three months beginning with the date of the order, as may be specified in the order, and a judge of the District Court, if satisfied as to the matters mentioned in that subsection, may thereafter from time to time by order authorise the further detention of the cash but so that— | ||
(a) no period of detention specified in such an order, shall exceed three months beginning with the date of the order; and | ||
(b) the total period of detention shall not exceed two years from the date of the order under subsection (2) of this section. | ||
(4) Any application for an order under subsection (2) or (3) of this section may be made by a member of the Garda Síochána or an officer of customs and excise. | ||
(5) At any time while cash is detained by virtue of the foregoing provisions of this section a judge of the District Court may direct its release if satisfied— | ||
(a) on an application made by the person from whom it was seized or a person by or on whose behalf it was being imported or exported, that there are no, or are no longer, any such grounds for its detention as are mentioned in subsection (2) of this section, or | ||
(b) on an application made by any other person, that detention of the cash is not for that or any other reason justified. | ||
(6) If at a time when any cash is being detained by virtue of the foregoing provisions of this section— | ||
(a) an application for its forfeiture is made under section 39 of this Act; or | ||
(b) proceedings are instituted (whether in the State or elsewhere) against any person for an offence with which the cash is connected, | ||
the cash shall not be released until any proceedings pursuant to the application or, as the case may be, the proceedings for that offence have been concluded. |