Section 201: Order for disposal of certain property

(1)During or at the conclusion of any trial or proceeding under this Act, a magistrate’s court may make such order as it thinks fit for the disposal whether by way of forfeiture, confiscation or otherwise of any property produced before it regarding which any offence appears to have been committed or which has been used for the commission of or to facilitate the commission of any offence.

(2)In any case where no evidence has been called, if the prosecutor wishes any property to be disposed of under subsection (1), the prosecutor shall, after the conviction of the accused person, produce that property before the court which may then make an order under subsection (1).

(3)Where the court orders the forfeiture or confiscation of any property as provided in subsection (1), but does not make an order for its destruction or for its delivery to any person, the court may direct that the property shall be kept or sold and that the property or, if sold, the proceeds of the sale shall be held as it directs until some person establishes to the court’s satisfaction a right to the property or proceeds.

(4)If no person establishes a right to the property or the proceeds of its sale within six months from the date of forfeiture or confiscation, the property or the proceeds of its sale shall be paid into and form part of the Consolidated Fund.

(5)The power conferred by this section upon the court shall include the power to make an order for the forfeiture or confiscation or for the destruction or for the delivery to any person of such property, but shall be exercised, subject to any special provisions regarding forfeiture, confiscation, destruction, detention or delivery contained in the written law under which the conviction was had or in any other written law applicable to the case.

(6)When an order is made under this section in a case in which an appeal lies, the order shall not, except when the property is livestock or is subject to speedy and natural decay, be carried out until the period allowed for presenting the appeal has passed, or when the appeal is entered until the disposal of the appeal.