Western Australian Consolidated Acts Western Australian Consolidated Acts (1) An eligible person
may apply to an issuing officer for the issue of a warrant under
subsection (2) if —
(a) the
eligible person has reasonable grounds for suspecting that, on a particular
day (the relevant day ), being the day on which, or a particular day within
one month after the day on which, the application is made, there may be, upon
any land or upon or in any premises, vessel, aircraft or vehicle, a thing or
things of a particular kind connected with a special ACC
operation/investigation ( things of the relevant kind ); and
(b) the
eligible person believes on reasonable grounds that, if a summons were issued
for the production of the thing or things, the thing or things might be
concealed, lost, mutilated or destroyed.
(2) Where an
application under subsection (1) is made to an issuing officer, the
issuing officer may issue a warrant authorising a person named in the warrant
(the authorised person ), with such assistance as the authorised person thinks
necessary and if necessary by force —
(a) to
enter upon the land or upon or into the premises, vessel, aircraft or vehicle;
(b) to
search the land, premises, vessel, aircraft or vehicle for things of the
relevant kind; and
(c) to
seize any things of the relevant kind found upon the land or upon or in the
premises, vessel, aircraft or vehicle and deliver things so seized to any
person participating in the special ACC operation/investigation.
(3) A member of the
Australian Federal Police cannot be an authorised person unless he or she is
also a member of the staff of the ACC.
(4) An issuing officer
must not issue a warrant under subsection (2) unless —
(a) an
affidavit has been furnished to him or her setting out the grounds on which
the issue of the warrant is being sought;
(b) the
applicant (or some other person) has given to the issuing officer, either
orally or by affidavit, such further information (if any) as the issuing
officer requires concerning the grounds on which the issue of the warrant is
being sought; and
(c) the
issuing officer is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for issuing the
warrant.
(5) Where an issuing
officer issues a warrant under subsection (2), he or she must state on
the affidavit furnished to him or her as mentioned in subsection (4)(a)
which of the grounds specified in that affidavit he or she has relied on to
justify the issue of the warrant and particulars of any other grounds relied
on by him or her to justify the issue of the warrant.
(6) A warrant issued
under this section must —
(a)
include a statement of the purpose for which the warrant is issued, which must
include a reference to the special ACC operation/investigation with which the
things of the relevant kind are connected;
(b)
state whether entry is authorised to be made at any time of the day or night
or during specified hours of the day or night;
(c)
include a description of the kind of things authorised to be seized; and
(d)
specify a date, not being later than one month after the date of issue of the
warrant, upon which the warrant ceases to have effect.
(7) A warrant issued
under this section may be executed, in accordance with its terms, at any time
during the period commencing on the relevant day and ending on the date
specified in the warrant as the date upon which the warrant ceases to have
effect.
(8) A person executing
a warrant issued under this section may only use such reasonable force as is
necessary for the execution.
(9) Where, in the
course of searching, in accordance with the terms of a warrant issued under
this section, for things of the relevant kind, the person executing the
warrant finds a thing that he or she believes on reasonable grounds to be
evidence that would be admissible in the prosecution of a person for an
offence against a law of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory and he or
she believes on reasonable grounds that it is necessary to seize the thing in
order to prevent its concealment, loss, mutilation or destruction, or its use
in committing such an offence, the person may seize the thing and, if he or
she does so, the thing is to be taken, for the purposes of this Act, to have
been seized pursuant to the warrant.
(10) Where a thing is
seized pursuant to a warrant issued under this section —
(a) the
head of the special ACC operation/investigation may retain the thing if, and
for so long as, retention of the thing by the head of the special ACC
operation/investigation is reasonably necessary for the purposes of the
special ACC operation/investigation to which the thing is relevant; and
(b) if
the retention of the thing by the head of the special ACC
operation/investigation is not, or ceases to be, reasonably necessary for such
purposes, a person participating in the special ACC operation/investigation
must cause the thing to be delivered to —
(i)
if the thing may be used in evidence in proceedings of a
kind referred to in subsection (13) — the authority or
person responsible for taking the proceedings; or
(ii)
if subparagraph (i) does not
apply — the person who appears to the person participating in
the special ACC operation/investigation to be entitled to the possession of
the thing,
unless the CEO has
furnished the thing to the Attorney-General of the Commonwealth or of a State,
or to a law enforcement agency, or to another person or authority, in
accordance with section 34(1)(a), (b) or (c).
(11) A person
participating in the special ACC operation/investigation may, instead of
delivering a thing in accordance with subsection (10)(b)(ii),
deliver the thing to the Attorney-General of the Commonwealth or of a
State, or to a law enforcement agency, for the purpose of assisting in the
investigation of criminal offences, where the person participating in the
special ACC operation/investigation is satisfied that the thing is likely to
be useful for that purpose.
(12) Nothing in this
section affects a right of a person to apply for, or the power of a person to
issue, a warrant, being a right or power existing otherwise than by virtue of
this section.
(13) Without limiting
the generality of subsection (1)(a), a reference in this section to a
thing connected with a special ACC operation/investigation, includes a
reference to a thing that may be used in evidence in proceedings for the
taking, by or on behalf of the Crown in right of the Commonwealth, of a State
or of a Territory, of civil remedies in respect of a matter connected with, or
arising out of, an offence to which the special ACC operation/investigation
relates.
(14) In this
section —
thing includes a document.