Division 5—Dealing with Property
Preservation or disposal of property
155.—(1) It shall be lawful for any court in any criminal proceedings to make orders for —
(a) the preservation or interim custody or detention of any property or thing produced in evidence or as to which questions may arise in the proceedings;
(b) the sale, destruction or other disposal of any such property or thing which may be of a perishable nature or liable to deteriorate, or which may be dangerous;
(c) the restoration or awarding of possession of any such property or thing to the person appearing to the court to be entitled to possession of it, without prejudice to any civil proceedings which may be taken in relation to it;
(d) the payment by any person of the expense incurred in the preservation, custody, detention, sale, destruction or other disposal of any such property or thing, or the proceeds of it;
(e) the application of any such property or thing, or the proceeds of it, towards satisfaction or payment of any costs or compensation which are ordered by the court to be paid by any person, or to the police or any other emergency service as compensation for the services that they have been called upon to perform as a result of the commission of the offence.
(2) Any order made under the provisions of sub-section (1)(d) may be enforced as if the order were the imposition of a fine.
(3) When an order is made under the provisions of this section in a case in which an appeal lies, the order shall not, except when the property is livestock or is liable to deterioration or decay, be carried out until the period allowed for presenting the appeal has passed or, when the appeal is presented within such period, until the appeal has been determined.
Property stolen
156.—(1) If any person guilty of any offence involving stealing, taking, obtaining, extorting, converting, or disposing of, or in knowingly receiving any property, is convicted, the property shall be restored to the owner or his representative.
(2) The court before whom an offender is convicted shall have power to award from time to time writs of restitution for the said property or to order the restitution of it in a summary manner , but —
(a) where goods as defined in the Sale of Goods Act have been obtained by fraud or other wrongful means not amounting to stealing, the property in such goods shall not revert in the person who was the owner of the goods, or his or her personal representative, by reason only of the conviction of the offender; and
(b) nothing in this section shall apply to the case of any valuable security which has been in good faith paid or discharged by some person liable to the payment of it, or, being a negotiable instrument, has been in good faith taken or received by transfer or delivery by some person for a just and valuable consideration without any notice or without reasonable cause to suspect that it has been stolen.
(3) The operation of any order under this section shall (unless the court before which the conviction takes place directs to the contrary in any case in which the title to the property is not in dispute) be suspended —
(a) in any case until the time for appeal has elapsed; and

(b) in a case where an appeal is lodged - until the determination of the appeal—
and in cases where the operation of any such order is suspended until the determination of the appeal, the order shall not take effect as to the property in question if the conviction is quashed on appeal.
(4) The Chief Justice may make provision by Rules for securing the safe custody of any property pending the suspension of the operation of any such order.
(5) Any person aggrieved by an order made under this section may appeal to the High Court, and upon the hearing of such appeal the court may by order annul or vary any order made on a trial for the restitution of any property to any person, although the conviction is not quashed; and the order —
(a) if annulled, shall not take effect; and
(b) if varied, shall take effect as so varied.
Stay of order
157. Upon the application of any person affected by any order or interested in the property the subject of any order made under the provisions of sections 155 and 156, the High Court may direct any such order made by a subordinate court to be stayed pending consideration by the High Court, and may modify, alter or annul such order.
Restoration of possession of real property
158.— (1) Whenever a person is convicted of an offence involving criminal force, threat or intimidation, and it appears to the court that by such force, threat or intimidation any person has been dispossessed of any real property, the court may order possession of such property to be restored to the person so dispossessed.
(2) Any order under sub-section (1) may be enforced by warrant.
(3) No order under this section shall prejudice any right to or interest in the real property which any person may be able to establish in civil proceedings.
Procedure by police on seizure of property
159.—(1) A report of any property or thing which has come into the possession of any police officer in connection with any charge or offence (or suspected offence), or otherwise in the course or performance of his duty, the ownership of which property or thing is in doubt, shall be made as soon as practicable to a Magistrates Court which shall make such order as it thinks fit—
(a) respecting the delivery of the property to the person entitled to the possession of it; or
(b) if the person cannot be ascertained, relating to the custody and production of the property.
(2) If the identity of the person entitled to the property is known, the court may order the property to be delivered to that person on such conditions, if any, as the court thinks fit.
(3) The court shall, on making an order under the provisions of sub-section (2), cause a notice to be served on the person—
(a) informing him or her of the terms of the order; and
(b) requiring him or her to take delivery of the property within such period from the date of the service of the notice (not being less than 48 hours) as the court prescribes in the notice.
(4) Subject to sub-section (5), if such person is unknown or cannot be found, the court may direct that the property be detained in police custody and the Commissioner of Police shall, in such case, publish a notice in the Gazette specifying the articles of which the property consists and requiring any person who has a claim to it to appear and establish a claim within 6 months from the date of the notice.
(5) Where it is shown to the satisfaction of the court that the property is — (a) of no appreciable value; or

(b) that its value is so small —
(i) as to render impracticable the sale of the property under sub-section (6); or
(ii) as to make its detention in police custody unreasonable in view of the expense or inconvenience that would be involved —
the court may order the property to be destroyed or otherwise disposed of, either on the expiration of the period after the publication of the notice as it may determine, or immediately, as it thinks fit.
(6) If, within 6 months from the publication of a notice under sub-section (5), no person has established a claim to the property and the person in whose possession the property was found is unable to show that it was legally acquired, the property may be sold on the order of the Commissioner of Police.
(7) If, within 3 months from the publication of a notice under sub-section (3), no person has taken delivery of the property, the ownership in the property or the net proceeds from its sale, shall be vested in the State.
(8) Where any property detained in police custody on the direction of a court made under sub-section (5)
(a) is subject to deterioration or decay; or
(b) in the opinion of the Commissioner of Police, is of less value than $100; or
(c) where its custody involves unreasonable expense or inconvenience—
the property may be sold at any time, and the provisions of this section shall, as nearly as may be practicable, apply to the net proceeds from the sale.
(9) If the person entitled to the possession of the property is absent from Fiji and —
(a) the property is subject to deterioration or decay; or
(b) the court to which its seizure is reported is of opinion that its sale would be for the benefit of the owner; or
(c) the value of such property is less than $100 —
the court may at any time direct it to be sold, and the provisions of sub-section (7) shall apply to the net proceeds from the sale.
(10) If the person to whom property has been ordered to be delivered under the provisions of sub-section (2) neglects or omits to take delivery of the property within the period prescribed, the court may —
(a) where such property is subject to deterioration or decay; or
(b) where, in the opinion of the court, its value is less than $100 —
direct that the property be sold and the net proceeds from the sale shall, on demand, be paid over to the person entitled.