Enforcement receivers
Section 50: Appointment
101.Where a confiscation order has been made and the magistrates’ court will be responsible for enforcing it, section 50 empowers the Crown Court to appoint a person to act as enforcement receiver to help enforce the confiscation order. This is another function transferred from the High Court to the Crown Court, in accordance with the general principle of the Crown Court as the main venue for confiscation. As in earlier confiscation legislation, the application for the appointment of an enforcement receiver, where the magistrates’ court is enforcing the confiscation order, has to be made by the prosecutor. Thus, prosecutors will continue to be involved in confiscation order enforcement. The enforcement receiver may (but need not) be the same as the management receiver appointed under section 48.
Section 51: Powers
102.Section 51 sets out the powers that the court can confer on an enforcement receiver. Again, these are based on the powers that enforcement receivers use in practice. The main difference between their powers and those of management receivers is the inclusion (for enforcement receivers) of powers to realise property (other than for their own remuneration and expenses). However, enforcement receivers may need to manage property before disposing of it and they are given the powers to do so. Managing property includes selling the property where, for example, this is necessary in order to maximise its value.
