Proceeds of Crime Act 2025 · As enacted · Part VIII · Disposal Of Forfeited Proceeds Of Crime And The Utilization Of The Value Derived Thereof
131. Disposal of forfeited proceeds of crime
Official English translation. Where it differs from the Sinhala or Tamil text, the Act itself says which text prevails.
Official translationFrom Department of Government Printing, unchanged
Following an order for the frozen proceeds of crime to be forfeited to the state, the High Court shall direct the Authority to obtain a valuation of the property and have such property disposed of through public auction or any other means of disposal to be recommended by the Authority and approved by court through which the value of the property could be derived. Such disposal shall be supervised by court.
Following the disposal of the property in the manner directed by court the Authority shall credit such amount recovered from such disposal to an account titled Proceeds of Disposal of Proceeds of Crime and make an application to court for an order directing the manner in which such sum of money is to be disbursed.
Following an application made in terms of subsection (2) by the Authority the court shall take into consideration the following among other factors which the court deems necessary, and make an order for the disbursement of the value derived by the disposal of the forfeited property:-
whether the unlawful activity that had been committed which yielded the relevant proceeds of crime can be identified and if so, the category of persons who may have suffered due to the committing of the unlawful activity;
whether subject to the following conditions, the value derived by the disposal of the forfeited property shall in its entirety be transferred to the consolidated fund-
whether the forfeited property in part contains a lawfully procured property, which is inseparable from the proceeds of crime;
whether the value derived by the disposal of the forfeited property shall be remitted to a requesting state that had by either itself or its people or institutions suffered a loss due to the committing of the relevant unlawful activity;
any other matter which the High Court deems relevant.
Where the Court determines that the unlawful activity that had been committed which yielded the relevant proceeds of crime can be identified and if so, the category of persons who may have suffered loss due to the committing of the unlawful activity is identified, the Court shall direct the
Authority:-
to transfer eighty per centum of the value derived by the disposal of the property to the Victims of
Crime Reparation Trust Fund;
to retain ten per centum of the value derived by the disposal of the property and transfer such some of money to the Protection, Preservation and Management of Proceeds of Crime Fund;
to retain ten per centum of the value derived by the disposal of the property and transfer such sum of money from time to time to the Attorney-General, Sri Lanka Police and the Commission to
Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption for the following purposes:-
training and capacity building of legal officers and law enforcement personnel;
procuring of equipment necessary for investigation, tracing and identification of proceeds of crime;
resources necessary for seizure, temporary custody, and enforcement of restraining orders pertaining to proceeds of crime;
for activities necessary for the prevention of persons deriving benefit out of the committing of the unlawful activity;
making necessary payments with regard to obtaining or procuring professional services of local or foreign competent persons or institutions and organizations pertaining to the conduct of money flow investigations, financial analysis, forensic accounting, forensic auditing, accessing of commercial data bases, tracing, identification, search, and examination of property suspected to be or containing proceeds of crime; and
any other purpose in furtherance of the objectives of this Act.
Where the Court concludes that the category of persons who may have suffered loss due to the committing of the unlawful activity cannot be identified or that there is no evidence that any person has directly suffered any loss due to the committing of the unlawful activity, the court shall direct the Authority to transfer eighty per centum of the value derived by the disposal of the forfeited property to the Consolidated Fund to be utilized in terms of the law as directed by the Parliament. The remaining twenty per centum shall be utilized in the manner set out in paragraphs (b) and (c) of subsection (4) of this section.
Where the Court concludes that the forfeited property contains in part a licit property, which is inseparable from the proceeds derived from committing an unlawful activity, the Court shall compute the value of the licit component of the forfeited proceeds of crime, and direct the Authority to transfer such amount to the party identified by court to have a lawful claim for such property.
Where the Court concludes that the value derived by the disposal of the forfeited property shall be remitted to a requesting state that had either by itself or through its people or institutions suffered loss due to the committing of the relevant unlawful activity, the Court shall direct the Authority to in consultation with the Secretary to the Ministry of the
Minister assigned the subject of Foreign Affairs, transfer the relevant sum of money to the Competent Authority of such requesting state subject to compliance with paragraphs (b)
and (c) of subsection (4) of this section.
Part IX
Victims Of Crime Reparation Trust Fund
Part X
International Cooperation
Part XI