Section 5 of The Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 View Chapter 2

Attachment of property


   (1)  The Director or any other officer authorised by the Director, not below the rank of Deputy Director, may, with the permission of the Special Court, attach any property mentioned in the application under section 4 by an order in writing in such manner as may be prescribed.

   (2)  Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1) or section 4, the Director or any other officer, not below the rank of Deputy Director, authorised by the Director, may, by an order in writing, at any time prior to the filing of the application under section 4, attach any property—

       (a)  for which there is a reason to believe that the property is proceeds of crime, or is a property or benami property owned by an individual who is a fugitive economic offender; and

       (b)  which is being or is likely to be dealt within a manner which may result in the property being unavailable for confiscation:

   Provided that the Director or any other officer who provisionally attaches any property under this sub-section shall, within a period of thirty days from the date of such attachment, file an application under section 4 before the Special Court.

   (3)  The attachment of any property under this section shall continue for a period of one hundred and eighty days from the date of order of attachment or such other period as may be extended by the Special Court before the expiry of such period.

   (4)  Nothing in this section shall prevent the person interested in the enjoyment of the immovable property attached under sub-section (1) from such enjoyment.

   Explanation.—For the purposes of this sub-section, the expression “person interested”, in relation to any immovable property includes all persons claiming or entitled to claim any interest in the property.