9.1 Restraint and confiscation orders are available under the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance, Cap. 455 and the Drug Trafficking (Recovery of Proceeds) Ordinance, Cap. 405.
9.2 Restraint and confiscation orders against the proceeds of criminal offending are not intended additionally to punish an offender. They are intended to prevent an offender from benefitting from the offending. Consequently, they should not be regarded as optional additions to the conduct of a prosecution or to sentence, but considered proactively in all cases on their merits. These orders are meant to serve the important public policy that no one should be allowed to benefit from the proceeds or instruments of serious crime.
9.3 From the outset of proceedings, the prosecution must consider appropriate orders in respect of property, whether used in the commission of crime or regarded as the proceeds of offending. Application for a restraint order will normally be made at the outset of criminal proceedings in order to ensure that property will not be dissipated and be available to satisfy any confiscation order made after conviction.