Editor's note: Former chapter 9 of this title on Major Crimes (§§ 901-951) was repealed in its entirety by PL 11-72 § 1. This new chapter 9 was enacted by PL 11-72 § 84 and is part of the Revised Criminal Code Act.
SUBCHAPTER I
General Provisions
SECTIONS
§ 901. Purpose.
§ 902. Jurisdiction and application.
§ 903. Definition.
§ 904. Charge in relation to a serious offense.
§ 905. Conviction in relation to a serious offense.
§ 906. Quashing of convictions.
§ 907. Value of property.
§ 908. Dealing with property.
§ 909. Gift caught by this Act.
§ 910. Deriving a benefit.
§ 911. Benefitting from the proceeds of a serious offense.
The purpose of this chapter is to provide for the confiscation of the proceeds of crime and property used in the commission of serious crime, and to prevent the use of the financial system to launder the proceeds of serious crime.
Source: PL 11-72 § 86.
Cross-reference: The statutory provisions on the President and the Executive are found in title 2 of this code. The statutory provisions on the Congress of the Federated States of Micronesia are found in title 3 of this code. The statutory provisions on the FSM Supreme Court and the Judiciary are found in title 4 of this code.
The website of the FSM National Government contains announcements, press releases, news, forms, and other information on the National Government at http://fsmgov.org.
The FSM Supreme Court website contains court decisions, rules, calendar, and other information of the court, the Constitution, the code of the Federated States of Micronesia, and other legal resource information at http://www.fsmsupremecourt.org/.
The official website of the Congress of the Federated States of Micronesia contains the public laws enacted by the Congress, sessions, committee hearings, rules, and other Congressional information at http://www.fsmcongress.fm/.
The provisions of this chapter shall extend and apply throughout all of the Federated States of Micronesia, including the land and waters and the airspace above such land and waters with respect to which the Federated States of Micronesia has legislative jurisdiction.
Under this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1) "Account" means any facility or arrangement by which a financial institution or cash dealer does any one or more of the following:
(a) accepts deposits of currency;
(b) allows withdrawals of currency or transfers into or out of the account;
(c) pays checks or payment orders drawn on a financial institution or cash dealer or collects checks or payment orders, made by or on behalf of a person; or
(d) supplies a facility or arrangement for a safety deposit box.
(2) "Appeal" includes proceedings by way of discharging or setting aside a judgment, and an application for a new trial or for a stay of execution.
(3) "Authorized officer" means a person or class of persons designated or authorized by the Secretary pursuant to applicable law as an authorized officer or officers for the purposes of enforcing or implementing the provisions of this chapter and related laws.
(4) "Cash dealer" means:
(a) a person who carries on a business of an insurer, an insurance intermediary, a securities dealer or a futures broker;
(b) a person who carries on a business of dealing in bullion, of issuing, selling or redeeming travelers checks, money orders or similar instruments, or of collecting, holding and delivering cash as part of a business providing payroll services;
(c) an operator of a gambling house, bingo parlor, casino or lottery; or
(d) a trustee, or manager of a unit trust.
(5) "Covered property" means:
(a) any property held by a defendant;
(b) any property in which a defendant has an interest; or
(c) any property held by a person to whom a defendant has directly or indirectly made a gift caught by this act.
(6) "Currency" means the coin and paper money of the Federated States of Micronesia or of a foreign country that is designated as legal tender and which is customarily used and accepted as a medium of exchange in the country of issue.
(7) "Defendant" means a person charged or about to be charged with a serious offense, whether or not he or she has been convicted of the offense, and includes, in the case of proceedings for a restraining order under section 957 of this title, a person who is about to be charged with a serious offense.
(8) "Document" means any material on which data is recorded or marked and which is capable of being read or understood by a person, computer system or other device, and any record of information, and includes:
(a) anything on which there is writing;
(b) anything on which there are marks, figures, symbols, or perforations having a meaning for persons qualified to interpret them;
(c) anything from which sounds, images or writings can be produced, with or without the aid of anything else; or
(d) a map, plan, drawing, photograph or similar thing.
(9) "Financial institution" means any person or entity which carries on a business of:
(a) acceptance of deposits and other repayable funds from the public;
(b) lending, including consumer credit, mortgage credit, factoring (with or without recourse) and financing of commercial transactions;
(c) financial leasing;
(d) money transmission services;
(e) issuing and administering means of payment (such as credit cards, travelers checks and bankers drafts);
(f) guarantees and commitments;
(g) trading for their own account or for account of customers in money market instruments (such as checks, bills, certificates of deposit), foreign exchange, financial futures and options, exchange and interest rate instruments, and transferable securities;
(h) underwriting share issues and participation in such issues;
(i) advice to undertakings on capital structure, industrial strategy and related questions, and advice and services relating to mergers and the purchase of undertakings;
(j) money-brokering;
(k) portfolio management and advice;
(l) safekeeping and administration of securities;
(m) credit reference services; or
(n) safe custody services.
(10) "Gift" includes any transfer of property by a person to another person directly or indirectly:
(a) after the commission of a serious crime by the first person;
(b) for a consideration the value of which is significantly less than the value of the property transferred; and
(c) to the extent of the difference between the market value of the property transferred and the consideration provided by the transferee.
(11) "Interest", in relation to property, means:
(a) a legal or equitable estate or interest in the property; or
(b) a right, power or privilege in connection with the property.
(12) "Money laundering" means:
(a) engaging, directly or indirectly, in a transaction that involves property which is a proceeds of crime;
(b) receiving, possessing, concealing, disguising, transferring, converting, disposing of, removing from or bringing into the country any property which is a proceeds of crime;
(c) knowing, or having reasonable grounds for suspecting that the property is derived or realized, directly or indirectly, from some form of unlawful activity;
(d) where the conduct is conduct of a natural person, without reasonable excuse, failing to take reasonable steps to ascertain whether or not the property is derived or realized directly or indirectly, from some form of unlawful activity; or
(e) where the conduct is a conduct of a financial institution, failing to implement or apply procedures and control to prevent or combat money laundering.
(13) "Person" means any natural or legal person.
(14) "Proceeding" or "proceedings" means any procedure conducted by or under the supervision of a judge or judicial officer, however described, in relation to any alleged or proven offense, or property derived from such offense, and includes an inquiry, investigation, or preliminary or final determination of facts.
(15) "Proceeds of crime" means fruits of a crime, or any property derived or realized directly or indirectly from a serious offense and includes, on a proportional basis, property into which any property derived or realized directly from the offense was later successively converted, transformed or intermingled, as well as income, capital or other economic gains derived or realized from such property at any time since the offense.
(16) "Property" means currency and all other real or personal property of every description, whether situated in the Federated States of Micronesia or elsewhere and whether tangible or intangible, and includes an interest in any such property.
(17) "Property of or in the possession or control of any person" includes any gift made by that person.
(18) "Realizable", with respect to "covered property" as defined by subsection (6) of this section, means:
(a) capable of being acquired, obtained, taken, seized, confiscated, or procured, and is either cash or is capable of being liquidated and converted into cash; or
(b) capable of being detected, located, found, discovered, and converted into cash through payment of the amount or value of the defendant's interest therein.
(19) "Secretary" means and is synonymous with the Secretary of the Department of Justice' of the Federated States of Micronesia, or with the chief law enforcement officer of the Federated States of Micronesia, whatever the title of such position is or in the future becomes.
(20) "Serious offense" means a violation of:
(a) any law of the Federated States of Micronesia or any of its States or political subdivisions, which is a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment for a term of more than one year; or
(b) a law of a foreign state, in relation to acts or omissions, which, had they occurred in the Federated States of Micronesia or any of its States or political subdivisions, would have constituted a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment for a term of more than one year.
(21) "Supreme Court" means the Supreme Court of the Federated States of Micronesia, and all its divisions, wherever or whenever constituted.
(22) "Tainted property" means:
(a) property used in, or in connection with, the commission of a serious offense; or
(b) proceeds of crime, as defined in subsection (16) of this section.
(23) "Unit trust" means any arrangement made for the purpose or having the effect of providing for a person to have the funds available for investment; facilitates for the participation by a person as a beneficiary under a trust, or in any profits or income arising from the acquisition, holding, management or disposal of any property pursuant to the trust.
(24) A reference in this chapter to the law of:
(a) the Federated States of Micronesia;
(b) any State of the Federated States of Micronesia; or
(c) any foreign state, includes a reference to a written or unwritten law of, or in force in, any part of the Federated States of Micronesia (including its States and political subdivisions); any part of that State of the Federated States of Micronesia, or any part of that foreign state, as the case may be.
Source: PL 11-72 § 88.
Cross-reference: The statutory provisions on the Executive and the President are found in title 2 (Executive) of this code. The statutory provisions on the Judiciary and the FSM Supreme Court are found in title 4 (Judicial) of this code.
Any reference in this chapter to a person being charged, or about to be charged, with a serious offense is a reference to a procedure, however described, in the Federated States of Micronesia or elsewhere, by which criminal proceedings may be commenced.
(1) For the purposes of this chapter, a person shall be taken to be convicted of a serious offense if:
(a) the person is convicted, whether upon a plea of guilty or no contest, or after trial, of the offense;
(b) the person is charged with, and found guilty of the offense but is discharged without any conviction being recorded; and
(c) the Supreme Court, with the consent of the convicted person, takes the offense, of which the person has not been found guilty, into account in passing sentence on the person for another serious offense.
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1) of this section, judgment or sentence need not have been imposed.
Source: PL 11-72 § 90.
Cross-reference: The statutory provisions on the Judiciary and the FSM Supreme Court are found in title 4 (Judicial) of this code.
(1) Subject to subsection (2) of this section, for the purposes of this chapter, the value of property (other than cash) in relation to any person holding the property is:
(a) its market value; or
(b) where an innocent third party holds an interest in the property:
(i) the market value of the property, less the interest of the innocent third party; and
(ii) less the amount required to discharge any valid liens or encumbrances.
(2) References in this chapter to the value of a gift, or the value of any payment or reward, means the value of the gift, payment or reward to the recipient when it was received, adjusted to account for any subsequent changes in the value of money.
(1) A gift, including a gift made before the effective date of this Act, is caught by this Act where:
(a) it was made by a defendant charged with or convicted of a serious offense, at any time after the commission of the offense to which the proceedings relate (or where more than one offense was committed, at any time after commission of the earliest of the offenses to which the proceedings relate); and, the Supreme Court considers it appropriate, after consideration of all of the relevant circumstances, to take the gift into account; or where
(b) it was made by a defendant charged with or convicted of a serious offense and was a gift of property:
(i) received by the defendant in connection with the commission of a serious offense committed by the defendant or by another person; or
(ii) which (in whole or in part, directly or indirectly) represented (when in the defendant's hands) property received by the defendant in connection with the commission of a serious offense by the defendant or another person.
(2) For purposes of this Act:
(a) the circumstances in which a defendant must be treated as making a gift include those where the defendant transfers property to another person, directly or indirectly, for a consideration, the value of which is significantly less than the value of the property transferred by the defendant; and
(b) in those circumstances, the court shall apply the provisions of section 907 of this title, taking into account the difference between the value of the gift and the consideration, if any, provided to the defendant by the recipient.
Source: PL 11-72 § 94.
Cross-reference: The statutory provisions on the Judiciary and the FSM Supreme Court are found in title 4 (Judicial) of this code.
A reference to a benefit derived or obtained by or otherwise accruing to a person, includes a reference to a benefit derived, or obtained by, or accruing to, a third party at the first person's request or direction.
(1) A person has benefitted from an offense if that person has at any time (whether before or after the commencement of this act) received any payment or other reward in connection with, or derived any pecuniary advantage from, the commission of a serious offense, whether committed by that person or someone else.
(2) A person's proceeds of a serious offense (whether received or derived before or after the commencement of this Act) are:
(a) any payments or other rewards received by the person at any time in connection with the offense; and/or
(b) any pecuniary advantage derived by the person at any time from the commission of an offense.
(3) The value of a person's proceeds of a serious offense is the aggregate of the values of all payments, rewards or pecuniary advantages received by that person in connection with, or derived by the person from, the commission of the offense.