FORFEITED MONEY GOES TO GOOD CAUSES

VICTORIA - Crime does pay for some B.C. residents, who are getting
more than $1 million in dirty money courtesy of a controversial law.

As a year closes on the Civil Forfeiture Act, Solicitor-General John
Les announced Tuesday that about $1.1 million in proceeds of crime
will be used to compensate victims and fund crime-prevention projects.

"The impact this law has had in just 12 months far exceeds
government's initial expectations," Les said.

The B.C. Supreme Court has frozen another $4.5 million in cash, real
estate and vehicles, pending the outcome of civil trials.

When the act was passed in 2006, the civil libertarians called the
law an "outrageous end run around a person's Charter rights."

However, the provincial government said the act was created with the
intent of suppressing crime by taking away the profit.

The B.C. Supreme Court can order the forfeiture of houses, cars,
boats or other property if it has been acquired through crime, or has
been used for crime.