Controlled Drugs and Substances Act

Marginal note:Application

• 20 (1) If any property is forfeited to Her Majesty under an order made under subsection 16(1) or 17(2), any person who claims an interest in the property, other than

  • (a) in the case of property forfeited under an order made under subsection 16(1), a person who was convicted, or discharged under section 730 of the Criminal Code, of the designated substance offence in relation to which the property was forfeited,

  • (b) in the case of property forfeited pursuant to an order made under subsection 17(2), a person who was charged with the designated substance offence in relation to which the property was forfeited, or

  • (c) a person who acquired title to or a right of possession of the property from a person referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) under circumstances that give rise to a reasonable inference that the title or right was transferred from that person for the purpose of avoiding the forfeiture of the property,

  may, within thirty days after the forfeiture, apply by notice in writing to a judge for an order under subsection (4).

• Marginal note:Fixing day for hearing

  (2) The judge to whom an application is made under subsection (1) shall fix a day not less than thirty days after the date of the filing of the application for the hearing of the application.

• Marginal note:Notice

  (3) An applicant shall serve a notice of the application made under subsection (1) and of the hearing of it on the Attorney General at least fifteen days before the day fixed for the hearing.

• Marginal note:Order declaring interest not affected by forfeiture

  (4) Where, on the hearing of an application made under subsection (1), the judge is satisfied that the applicant

  • (a) is not a person referred to in paragraph (1)(a), (b) or (c) and appears innocent of any complicity in any designated substance offence that resulted in the forfeiture of the property or of any collusion in relation to such an offence, and

  • (b) exercised all reasonable care to be satisfied that the property was not likely to have been used in connection with the commission of an unlawful act by the person who was permitted by the applicant to obtain possession of the property or from whom the applicant obtained possession or, where the applicant is a mortgagee or lienholder, by the mortgagor or lien-giver,

  the judge may make an order declaring that the interest of the applicant is not affected by the forfeiture and declaring the nature and the extent or value of the interest.

• Marginal note:Appeal from order made under subsection (4)

  (5) An applicant or the Attorney General may appeal to the court of appeal from an order made under subsection (4), and the provisions of Part XXI of the Criminal Code with respect to procedure on appeals apply, with such modifications as the circumstances require, in respect of appeals under this subsection.

• Marginal note:Return of property

  (6) The Minister shall, on application made to the Minister by any person in respect of whom a judge has made an order under subsection (4), and where the periods with respect to the taking of appeals from that order have expired and any appeal from that order taken under subsection (5) has been determined, direct that

  • (a) the property, or the part of it to which the interest of the applicant relates, be returned to the applicant; or

  • (b) an amount equal to the value of the interest of the applicant, as declared in the order, be paid to the applicant.