Victorian Consolidated Legislation

Australian Crime Commission (State Provisions) Act 2003 - SECT 29

PART 4 SEARCH WARRANTS

Search warrants

29. Search warrants



(1) An eligible person may apply to an issuing officer for the issue of a
warrant under subsection (2) if-

   (a)  the eligible person has reasonable grounds for suspecting that, on a
        particular day (the relevant day), being the day on which, or a
        particular day within one month after the day on which, the
        application is made, there may be, upon any land or upon or in any
        premises, vessel, aircraft or vehicle, a thing or things of a
        particular kind connected with a special ACC operation/investigation
        (things of the relevant kind); and

   (b)  the eligible person believes on reasonable grounds that, if a summons
        were issued for the production of the thing or things, the thing or
        things might be concealed, lost, mutilated or destroyed.

(2) Where an application under subsection (1) is made to an issuing officer,
the issuing officer may issue a warrant authorising a person named in the
warrant (the authorised person), with such assistance as the authorised person
thinks necessary and if necessary by force-

   (a)  to enter upon the land or upon or into the premises, vessel, aircraft
        or vehicle; and

   (b)  to search the land, premises, vessel, aircraft or vehicle for things
        of the relevant kind; and





   (c)  to seize any things of the relevant kind found upon the land or upon
        or in the premises, vessel, aircraft or vehicle and deliver things so
        seized to any person participating in the special ACC
        operation/investigation.

(3) A member of the Australian Federal Police cannot be an authorised person
unless he or she is also a member of the staff of the ACC.

(4) An issuing officer must not issue a warrant under subsection (2) unless-

   (a)  an affidavit has been furnished to him or her setting out the grounds
        on which the issue of the warrant is being sought; and

   (b)  the applicant (or some other person) has given to the issuing officer,
        either orally or by affidavit, such further information (if any) as
        the issuing officer requires concerning the grounds on which the issue
        of the warrant is being sought; and

   (c)  the issuing officer is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for
        issuing the warrant.

(5) Where an issuing officer issues a warrant under subsection (2), he or she
must state on the affidavit furnished to him or her as mentioned in subsection
(4)(a) which of the grounds specified in that affidavit he or she has relied
on to justify the issue of the warrant and particulars of any other grounds
relied on by him or her to justify the issue of the warrant.

(6) A warrant issued under this section must-

   (a)  include a statement of the purpose for which the warrant is issued,
        which must include a reference to the special ACC operation/
        investigation with which the things of the relevant kind are
        connected;

   (b)  state whether entry is authorised to be made at any time of the day or
        night or during specified hours of the day or night;

   (c)  include a description of the kind of things authorised to be seized;
        and

   (d)  specify a date, not being later than one month after the date of issue
        of the warrant, upon which the warrant ceases to have effect.

(7) A warrant issued under this section may be executed, in accordance with
its terms, at any time during the period commencing on the relevant day and
ending on the date specified in the warrant as the date upon which the warrant
ceases to have effect.

(8) A person executing a warrant issued under this section may only use such
reasonable force as is necessary for the execution.

(9) Where, in the course of searching, in accordance with the terms of a
warrant issued under this section, for things of the relevant kind, the person
executing the warrant finds a thing that he or she believes on reasonable
grounds to be evidence that would be admissible in the prosecution of a person
for an offence against a law of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory
and he or she believes on reasonable grounds that it is necessary to seize the
thing in order to prevent its concealment, loss, mutilation or destruction, or
its use in committing such an offence, the person may seize the thing and, if
he or she does so, the thing is to be taken, for the purposes of this Act, to
have been seized pursuant to the warrant.





(10) Where a thing is seized pursuant to a warrant issued under this section-

   (a)  the head of the special ACC operation/ investigation may retain the
        thing if, and for so long as, retention of the thing by the head of
        the special ACC operation/investigation is reasonably necessary for
        the purposes of the special ACC operation/investigation to which the
        thing is relevant; and

   (b)  if the retention of the thing by the head of the special ACC
        operation/investigation is not, or ceases to be, reasonably necessary
        for such purposes, a person participating in the special ACC
        operation/investigation must cause the thing to be delivered to-

   (i)  if the thing may be used in evidence in proceedings of a kind referred
        to in subsection (13), the authority or person responsible for taking
        the proceedings; or

   (ii) if subparagraph (i) does not apply, the person who appears to the
        person participating in the special ACC operation/investigation to be
        entitled to the possession of the thing- unless the CEO has furnished
        the thing to the Attorney-General of the Commonwealth or of a State,
        or to a law enforcement agency, or to another person or authority, in
        accordance with section 34(1)(a), (b) or (c).





(11) A person participating in the special ACC operation/investigation may,
instead of delivering a thing in accordance with subsection (10)(b)(ii),
deliver the thing to the Attorney-General of the Commonwealth or of a State,
or to a law enforcement agency, for the purpose of assisting in the
investigation of criminal offences, where the person participating in the
special ACC operation/investigation is satisfied that the thing is likely to
be useful for that purpose.

(12) Nothing in this section affects a right of a person to apply for, or the
power of a person to issue, a warrant, being a right or power existing
otherwise than by virtue of this section.

(13) Without limiting the generality of subsection (1)(a), a reference in this
section to a thing connected with a special ACC operation/ investigation,
includes a reference to a thing that may be used in evidence in proceedings
for the taking, by or on behalf of the Crown in right of the Commonwealth, of
a State or of a Territory, of civil remedies in respect of a matter connected
with, or arising out of, an offence to which the special ACC
operation/investigation relates.

(14) In this section-

thing includes a document.