Section 15: Effect of postponement
37.Section 15 makes it clear that, as under earlier confiscation legislation, the court may sentence the defendant at any time during the period of postponement. The purpose of the provision is to avoid the sentence being delayed while confiscation is considered. The court is not allowed to impose a fine or ancillary order (such as a forfeiture order) when it sentences the defendant in the postponement period because it needs to know the amount of the confiscation order before it does this. However, it may vary the sentence within 28 days of the end of the postponement period by making one or more of these disposals, by which time any confiscation order will have been made. This will, in particular, enable the forfeiture and destruction of drugs to be ordered in a drug trafficking case.
