Togias v New South Wales Crime Commission [2019] NSWSC 1556

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Togias v New South Wales Crime Commission [2019] NSWSC 1556 Hearing dates: 22, 23 October 2019 Date of orders: 07 November 2019 Decision date: 07 November 2019 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: R A Hulme J Decision: (1) Application for payment of an amount of the proceeds of the sale of forfeited property on the basis of hardship pursuant to s 24 of the Criminal Assets Recovery Act 1990 (NSW) dismissed. (2) The plaintiff is to pay the defendant's costs. Catchwords: CRIME – confiscation – forfeiture order – application to exclude interest in property from forfeiture order – application to exclude value of innocent interests from forfeiture order – whether plaintiff has "interest" in forfeited property – question of statutory construction – plaintiff's "interest" in property has not been forfeited by forfeiture order – applications dismissed on the basis of incompetence

CRIME – confiscation – forfeiture order – application for payment of amount from proceeds of sale of interest on basis of hardship – whether plaintiff is a dependent of the person whose interest has been forfeited – neither plaintiff nor children were dependents at the time that forfeiture orders first sought and made – hardship that can be ameliorated by payment not made out on the evidence Legislation Cited: Criminal Assets Recovery Act 1990 (NSW), ss 3, 10A, 22, 22(4), 23, 24, 24(1)(a), 25, 25(1), 25(1)(b), 25(4), 26, 26(1), 26(4) Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW), ss 21C, 21C(3) Cases Cited: New South Wales Crime Commission v Keen (2005) 64 NSWLR 515; [2005] NSWSC 1151 New South Wales Crime Commission v Kelaita (2008) 75 NSWLR 564; [2008] NSWCA 284 New South Wales Crime Commission v Kelly and Ors (No 2) [2003] NSWSC 154 New South Wales Crime Commission v Kelly; Kelly v New South Wales Crime Commission (2003) 58 NSWLR 71; [2003] NSWCA 245 New South Wales Crime Commission v Subakti [2016] NSWSC 1421 New South Wales Crime Commission v Tran [2015] NSWSC 542 New South Wales Crime Commission v Young (Supreme Court (NSW), 10 August 1992, unrep) NSW Crime Commission v Greer [2000] NSWSC 363; (2000) 112 A Crim R 461 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Nicolitsa Togias (Plaintiff) New South Wales Crime Commission (Defendant) Representation: Counsel: Mr K Averre (Plaintiff) Mr P Singleton (Defendant)