NEW BILL WILL ENSURE CRIMINALS WON'T PROFIT

To the Editor,

I wish to commend the government of B.C. for bringing forward new
legislation, Bill 13 - 2005 the Civil Forfeiture Act, which provides
strong new tools to fight crime in our province.

The essence of the law is that no one should profit from crime and
that those harmed by criminal activity be compensated from the
property acquired by the crime.

The application for forfeiture order states:

3 (1) The director may apply to the court for an order forfeiting to
the government

(a) the whole of an interest in property that is proceeds of unlawful
activity, or

(b) the portion of an interest in property that is proceeds of
unlawful activity.

(2) The director may apply to the court for an order forfeiting to
the government property that is an instrument of unlawful activity.

Payment Out Of Civil Forfeiture Account

27 (1) Subject to this Act and the regulations, the director may make
payments out of the civil forfeiture account for one or more of the
following purposes:

(a) compensation of eligible victims;

(b) prevention of unlawful activities;

(c) remediation of the effect of unlawful activities;

(d) administration of the Act;

(e) other prescribed purposes.

This constitutes major progress in crime fighting and I will be
asking council to direct maximum application to this new tool to
benefit any Nanaimo citizens harmed by crime.

Gary Korpan, Mayor

City of Nanaimo