Section 290 Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL) Lagos

Section 290 Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Lagos State, as amended in 2021, is about Order for disposal of property with respect to which offence is committed. It provides as follows:

(1) During or at the conclusion of any trial, the Court may make such order as it thinks fit for the disposal whether by way of forfeiture, confiscation or otherwise of any movable or immovable property produced before it with respect to which any offence appears to have been committed or which has been used for the commission of any offence and in case of any immovable property, the production of title document, deed, certificate of occupancy or receipt of purchase of such property shall be deemed as production of the property itself before the Court for the purpose of the exercise of the power of forfeiture, confiscation or otherwise conferred by this section.

(2) Where the Court orders the forfeiture or confiscation of any property as provided in subsection (1) but does not make an order for its destruction or for its delivery to any person, the Court may direct that the property be kept or sold and that the same, if sold, the proceeds shall be held as it directs until some person establishes to the Court’s satisfaction a right to it. If no person established such a right within six months from the date of forfeiture or confiscation of such property, the proceeds shall be paid into and form part of the general revenue.

(3) The power conferred by subsections (1) and (2) upon the Court shall include the power to make an order for the forfeiture or confiscation or for the destruction or for the delivery to any person of such property, but shall be exercised subject to any special provisions regarding forfeiture, confiscation, destruction, detention or delivery contained in the written law under which the conviction was had or in
any other written law applicable to the case.

(4) When an order is made under this section in a case in which an appeal lies, such order shall not, except when the property is livestock or is subject to speedy and natural decay, be carried out until the period allowed for presenting such appeal had passed or when such appeal is entered until the disposal of such appeal.

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