{"id":3021,"date":"2024-08-23T20:57:07","date_gmt":"2024-08-23T18:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.npa.gov.zm\/?p=3021"},"modified":"2024-08-26T15:55:20","modified_gmt":"2024-08-26T13:55:20","slug":"high-court-economic-and-financial-crimes-division-restates-settled-international-standards-on-non-conviction-based-forfeiture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.npa.gov.zm\/index.php\/2024\/08\/23\/high-court-economic-and-financial-crimes-division-restates-settled-international-standards-on-non-conviction-based-forfeiture\/","title":{"rendered":"High Court Economic &amp; Financial Crimes Division Restates Settled Internantional Standards On Non-Conviction BasedForfeiture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Economic and Financial Crimes Division of the High Court of Zambia in a judgment delivered on 21<sup>st<\/sup> August, 2024 restated the settled international standards on Non-Conviction Based Forfeiture in the case of <strong><em>Anti-Corruption Commission vs. Pittscon Zambia Limited &amp; 7 Others 2022\/HPEF\/12.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The High Court disagreed with the decision of the Court of Appeal in the case of <strong><em>Sydney Mwansa vs. The People (CCZ) Appeal No. 276 of 2021 <\/em><\/strong>by distinguishing it on the premise that it did not conform with settled international standards on Non-Conviction Based Forfeiture.&nbsp; In the <strong><em>Sydney Mwansa<\/em><\/strong> case, the Court of Appeal decided that there must be a connection between the property sought to be forfeited and a criminal charge.&nbsp; On the other hand, the High Court has indicated that it would instead follow the Supreme Court\u2019s decision in the case of <strong><em>The People vs. Austin Liato (No. 291\/2014) <\/em><\/strong>where the current Chief Justice, Dr. Mumba Malila, SC stated as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>\u201cThe passage of the Forfeiture of Proceeds of Crime Act 2010 was therefore, a deliberate act of the State, sequel to international clamour in this regard, to restate the burden and standard of proof in proceedings relating to forfeiture of proceeds of crime.&nbsp; The framing of section 71(1), (2) and (3) was a conscious and deliberate desire to change the standard of proof and the evidentiary burden of proof.&nbsp; Section 78 of the Act, which we have earlier on quoted, makes the intention of the legislature quite evident.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the High Court, the decision of <strong><em>The People vs. Austin Liato<\/em><\/strong> is more persuasive to the effect that Non-Conviction Based Forfeiture of assets is not dependent on proof of one having committed a criminal offence as the Court of Appeal\u2019s decision of <strong><em>Sydney Mwansa vs. The People<\/em><\/strong> appears to suggest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This decision encourages the investigation and prosecution of individuals reasonably suspected to be in possession of property reasonably suspected to be proceeds of crime.&nbsp; It will also enhance the fight against corruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div data-wp-interactive=\"core\/file\" class=\"wp-block-file\"><object data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!state.hasPdfPreview\" hidden class=\"wp-block-file__embed\" data=\"https:\/\/www.npa.gov.zm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/ACC-v-PITTSCON-JUDGMENT-_compressed.pdf\" type=\"application\/pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" aria-label=\"Embed of ACC v PITTSCON JUDGMENT _compressed.\"><\/object><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-6be9aefd-9f56-499a-917e-ae6b31ad5bf8\" href=\"https:\/\/www.npa.gov.zm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/ACC-v-PITTSCON-JUDGMENT-_compressed.pdf\">ACC v PITTSCON JUDGMENT _compressed<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npa.gov.zm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/ACC-v-PITTSCON-JUDGMENT-_compressed.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-6be9aefd-9f56-499a-917e-ae6b31ad5bf8\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Economic and Financial Crimes Division of the High Court of Zambia in a judgment delivered on 21st August, 2024 restated the settled international standards on Non-Conviction Based Forfeiture in the case of Anti-Corruption Commission vs. Pittscon Zambia Limited &amp; 7 Others 2022\/HPEF\/12. The High Court disagreed with the decision of the Court of Appeal [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":3022,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"table_tags":[],"class_list":["post-3021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.npa.gov.zm\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.npa.gov.zm\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.npa.gov.zm\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.npa.gov.zm\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.npa.gov.zm\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3021"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.npa.gov.zm\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3071,"href":"https:\/\/www.npa.gov.zm\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3021\/revisions\/3071"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.npa.gov.zm\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.npa.gov.zm\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.npa.gov.zm\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.npa.gov.zm\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3021"},{"taxonomy":"table_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.npa.gov.zm\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/table_tags?post=3021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}