Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1995

11 For sections 8 (cases in which restraint orders may be made) and 9 (restraint orders) there shall be substituted the following sections—

“8 Restraint orders

(1) The court may, on the application of the prosecutor, make an order (in this Part of this Act referred to as a “restraint order”) in the circumstances mentioned in either subsection (3) or (4) below interdicting—

(a) any person named in the order from dealing with his realisable property; or

(b) that person and any person named in the order as appearing to the court to have received from him an implicative gift from dealing with their own, or the other's, realisable property,

(whenever that property was acquired and whether it is described in the order or not).

(2) A restraint order may contain conditions and exceptions to which the interdict shall be subject and in particular—

(a) may make provision for the release to the person named in the order of such reasonable living expenses as the court thinks fit; and

(b) shall provide for the release of property in so far as it is required to meet reasonable legal expenses payable or likely to be payable in relation to proceedings—

(i) as regards the offence by virtue of which the restraint order has been made; or

(ii) as regards a confiscation order made on conviction of the offence.

(3) For the purposes of this subsection, the circumstances are—

(a) proceedings have been instituted against an accused in Scotland for an offence to which section 1 of this Act relates;

(b) the proceedings have not been concluded; and

(c) either a confiscation order has been made or it appears to the court that, in the event of his conviction of the offence, there are reasonable grounds for thinking that a confiscation order may be made in those proceedings.

(4) For the purposes of this subsection, the circumstances are that the court is satisfied that—

(a) it is proposed to institute proceedings within 28 days against a person suspected of such an offence and it appears to the court that, in the event of his conviction of the offence, there are reasonable grounds for thinking that a confiscation order may be made in those proceedings; or

(b) the prosecutor has made, or proposes within 28 days to make, an application under section 6A or, as the case may be, section 6B of this Act in relation to that person in respect of the offence and it appears to the court that there are reasonable grounds for thinking that the application may be granted.

(5) Where the court has made a restraint order in the circumstances mentioned in subsection (4)(a) or (b) above and no proceedings have been instituted or application made within 28 days as mentioned in that subsection, the prosecutor shall forthwith apply to the court for the recall of the order and the court shall grant the application.

(6) When proceedings for the offence or, as the case may be, proceedings on an application under section 6A or 6B of this Act are concluded, the prosecutor shall forthwith apply to the court for recall of the order and the court shall grant the application.

(7) A restraint order shall—

(a) be made on an ex parte application which shall be heard in chambers; and

(b) without prejudice to the time when it becomes effective, be intimated to each person affected by it.

(8) For the purposes of this Part of this Act, dealing with property includes (without prejudice to the generality of the expression)—

(a) making a payment to any person in reduction of the amount of a debt;

(b) removing the property from the jurisdiction of the court; and

(c) transferring or disposing of the property.

(9) In this section and sections 9 to 12 of this Act, “the court” means where, as regards the criminal proceedings in question, a trial diet or a diet fixed for the purposes of section 102 of the 1975 Act is intended to be held, is being or has been held—

(a) in the High Court of Justiciary, the Court of Session;

(b) in the sheriff court, a sheriff of that court exercising his civil jurisdiction.

(10) For the purposes of this section, proceedings on an application under section 6A or 6B of this Act are concluded—

(a) when the application is refused; or

(b) where the application is granted, when a confiscation order made in the proceedings is satisfied (whether by payment of the amount due under the order or by the accused serving imprisonment in default).

(11) References in this section to the institution of proceedings for an offence against a person shall be construed in accordance with section 5(3) of this Act.

9 Variation and recall of restraint orders

(1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3) below, the court may, at the instance of—

(a) the prosecutor, at any time vary or recall a restraint order in relation to any person or to any property;

(b) any person having an interest, at any time vary or recall a restraint order in relation to the person or to any property.

(2) On an application made under subsection (1)(b) above of a person named in a restraint order as having received an implicative gift, the court may recall the order in relation to that person if it is satisfied on the balance of probabilities—

(a) that he received the gift not knowing, not suspecting and not having reasonable grounds to suspect that the gift was made in contemplation of, or after, the commission of the offence or if more than one, in contemplation of any of the offences or after the commission of the earlier or the earliest of the offences to which the proceedings for the time being relate; and

(b) that he was not associated with the giver in the commission of the offence; and

(c) that he would suffer hardship if the order were not recalled.

(3) Where an application has been made under subsection (1) above for the variation or recall of a restraint order, any property in relation to which the restraint order was made shall not be realised during the period beginning with the making of the application and ending with the determination of the application by the court.

(4) The court may, where it has recalled a restraint order as mentioned in subsection (1)(b) or (2) above, order that property of the person at whose instance it was recalled shall cease to be realisable.

(5) The prosecutor or any person having an interest may reclaim or appeal to the Court of Session against an interlocutor refusing, varying or recalling or refusing to vary or recall a restraint order, within such period as may be prescribed by act of sederunt.

(6) Where, in relation to a restraint order which is recalled, interdict has been granted under section 12(1) of this Act, the clerk of court shall, on the restraint order being recalled, forthwith so inform each person so interdicted.”.