Criminal proceeds recovery orders stalk offenders for the rest of their lives. A $1.8 million profit forfeiture order made in 2011 was enforced twelve years later over protestations by convicted drug dealer Royce Allan Duncan that money recently seized by police was a bequest from his father.
Duncan was released on parole in 2018, part-way through a fifteen year sentence for serious drug-related offending. The High Court was told a 2021 police raid on his Tauranga home unearthed $37,222 cash, a pistol and ammunition, plus small quantities of drugs.
A Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act application by police back in 2011 resulted in a profit forfeiture order against Duncan for $1.87 million. Only $304,800 was recovered subsequently from a forced sale of his assets. A $1.56 million shortfall remained.
The original 2011 forfeiture order had shelf life of six years; enforcement beyond that time requires court approval. Justice Powell approved further enforcement in 2023 to allow confiscation of the $37,222 cash recently seized. It was irrelevant that the money was claimed to be a bequest, he said.
Commissioner of Police v. Duncan – High Court (5.09.23)
23.148