Management receivers
Section 48: Appointment
98.The earlier confiscation legislation enables a receiver to be appointed by the High Court on the application of the prosecutor. In fact, receivers perform two quite different functions under the legislation. They manage property pending the defendant’s conviction (and sometimes afterwards) and they dispose of it to satisfy the confiscation order. These receivers are known in practice as “management” and “enforcement” receivers respectively but the earlier legislation does not distinguish between them as such. The Act now deals separately with the two sorts of receivers’ functions.
99.Section 48 enables a management receiver to be appointed where a restraint order has been made. In accordance with the principle of the Crown Court as the main venue for confiscation, the appointment is made by the Crown Court, not the High Court. Section 48(1)(b) makes it clear that a receiver may only be appointed on application to the Crown Court by the applicant for the restraint order. However, the application need not be made by the same individual who applied for the restraint order (since that individual may, for example, become ill after applying for the order).
Section 49: Powers
100.Section 49 sets out the powers that the court can confer on a management receiver. They are based on the powers that receivers use in practice under the earlier legislation to manage property pending conviction and confiscation. Subsection (7) prevents the powers from being exercised in relation to property subject to a charging order under earlier confiscation legislation in England and Wales or Northern Ireland (there was no provision for charging orders in the Scottish legislation).
