DRUG BARON LAW RARELY USED, only one

[Luke Skywalker]

DRUG BARON LAW RARELY USED... Only one person has substantial property frozen.

By Sean Cowan

 

PROPERTY confiscation laws designed to bring down drug dealing Mr Bigs have been used just once since they were intro- duced more than three years ago.

 

The laws allow police to freeze suspected criminals' assets without charges being laid. If the suspects want the property back they must prove it was bought with legally obtained funds. A list of police targets obtained by The West Australian reveals that 11 people have been the subject of unexplained-wealth seizures.

 

Nine of them had already been charged over drug hauls but were arrested before a law was passed that allows police to confiscate convicted dealers' assets without any right of appeal. Some of them were high-level dealers.

 

But just one, Gypsy Joker Les Hoddy, had assets frozen without drugs charges being laid.

 

In July 2002, police seized assets worth more than $620,000 from Mr Hoddy, including a boat, a new Harley-Davidson motorcycle, a high-powered Commodore car, two trucks and trucking equipment.

 

Freeze orders were placed on a house in Maddington and a trucking yard in Bellevue and more than $48,000 in cash and cheques seized during an earlier raid were frozen.

 

Mr Hoddy is fighting the process.

 

When the unexplained-wealth law was being debated in Parliament in 2000, then police minister Kevin Prince said suspected drug dealers would be at the top of the list of targets. Bikies and associates of the late Laurie Connell would probably come under heavy scrutiny, he said.

 

Shadow police minister Matt Birney said this week the State Government was soft on crime.

 

"I am astounded that some of Perth's big names in the criminal world don't appear on that list," he said.

 

"Why did we pass this legislation through Parliament if in fact it's not being used to the fullest?"

 

The West Australian understands the police asset investigation unit is swamped by asset claims against convicted dealers and does not have enough staff to investigate unexplained-wealth targets.

 

Police Assistant Commissioner Mel Hay, who heads WA's crime investigation and intelligence services, said police had seized millions of dollars worth of assets from criminals and would increasingly use the unexplained-wealth laws to target suspected criminals.

 

"The legislation is very powerful and in the years ahead will develop as a critical weapon for police in the fight against organised crime, which in many cases has links to drugs," he said.

 

"The Government has provided us with an extra $150,000 to employ a second forensic accountant and two additional assistants. Those extra staff will greatly enhance our capacity to investigate cases involving unexplained wealth.

 

"The legislation doesn't just remove the profit from crime, but also the key motivation to commit those crimes."

 

 

© 2004 West Australian Newspapers Limited