Section 20: Determination of value of benefit
consolidated text (as at 2018, amended since). juris shows the text as it was consolidated; it does not confirm that this is the law in force today.
20. Determination of value of benefit
(1) For the purposes of this Sub-Part, the value of the benefit derived or
likely to be derived by a defendant may include—
(a) any money received by the defendant, or by another person at
the request or by the direction of the defendant;
(aa) the value of any dangerous drug found in the possession of the
defendant or of another person on behalf of the defendant;
(b) the value of any property that was derived or realised, directly or
indirectly, by the defendant or by another person at the request
or by the direction of the defendant;
(c) the value of any service or financial advantage provided for the
defendant or another person, at the request or by the direction of
the defendant; or
[Issue 5] A23A – 14
Revised Laws of Mauritius
(d) unless the Court is satisfied that the increase was due to causes
unrelated to the commission of the offence, any increase in the
total value of property in which the defendant has an interest in
the period beginning immediately before the commission of the
offence and ending at some time after the commission of the
offence.
(2) In calculating the value of the benefit—
(a) any expenditure of the defendant in connection with the commission of the offence shall be disregarded; and
(b) the Court shall make any adjustment necessary to prevent a
benefit from being counted more than once.
(3) For the purposes of subsection (1) (d), where an offence is committed between 2 dates, the period begins immediately before the earlier of the
2 dates and ends at some time after the later of the 2 dates.
(4) Where the benefit derived or likely to be derived by a defendant was
in the form of property, including dangerous drugs or some other form of
unlawfully obtained property, the Court may, in determining the value of that
property, have regard to evidence given by a law enforcement agent or such
other person whom the Court considers has expert knowledge of the value
of that kind of property.
(5) The Court may, for the purposes of determining whether there was a
benefit and the value of the benefit, treat any acceptance by the defendant
of the averments set out in the statement referred to in section 17 (1) (b) as
conclusive of the matters to which it relates.
(6) The Court may treat a defendant’s failure to respond to the statement
or to indicate the facts upon which he will rely as an acceptance of every
averment in the statement other than—
(a) an averment regarding whether he complied with the requirement; and
(b) an averment that he has benefited from the offence or that he
obtained any property or advantage as a result of or in connection with the commission of the offence.
[S. 20 amended by s. 12 of Act 24 of 2012 w.e.f. 10 November 2012.]