The Penalty of Confiscation in Light of the UAE Penal Code

Dr. Ghassan Arnous
Legal Advisor at Zayed Al Shamsi Advocates and Legal Consultants

Confiscation is considered one of the financial penalties imposed on the offender as a result of committing a crime. It is among the supplementary penalties mentioned in the Penal Code, which are imposed alongside the principal penalty. The UAE legislator has defined it as: “A judgment whereby private property is transferred to state ownership without compensation or indemnity.”

The legislator clarified the provisions related to confiscation in Article 83 of the Penal Code, which states:

2. In cases where the law does not mandate confiscation, the court may, upon conviction, order the confiscation of seized items and funds used in the crime, intended to be used in the crime, that constituted the subject of the crime, or that resulted from the crime. This shall be without prejudice to the rights of third parties acting in good faith.

3. If the mentioned items are of the kind whose manufacture, use, possession, sale, or offering for sale constitutes a crime in itself, the court must order their confiscation in all cases, even if the items are not owned by the accused. If any of these items or funds cannot be seized or if confiscation is not possible due to the rights of third parties acting in good faith, the court shall impose a fine equivalent to their value at the time the crime occurred.

It is clear from the second paragraph of Article (83) mentioned above that it addresses discretionary confiscation, while the third paragraph deals with mandatory confiscation. It is worth noting that if the perpetrator of the crime is unknown, or if criminal responsibility is waived, or if the criminal case is dropped in a particular crime, the court must, either on its own or upon the request of the Public Prosecution as appropriate, rule on the confiscation of the seized items if a link to the crime is established.

An example of crimes in which the legislator has made confiscation mandatory is found in Article (478) of the Penal Code, which states:

“The court shall, upon conviction, order the confiscation of the seized items and funds used in the crime of begging, intended to be used in it, that constituted its subject, or that were acquired as a result of it. If any of these items or funds cannot be seized, the court shall impose a fine equivalent to their value…”

From the foregoing, it is observed that confiscation is one of the severe financial penalties often overlooked by offenders, especially in crimes such as fraud and breach of trust. In many instances, courts have ruled to confiscate the property involved in the crime, which may lead to the offender being fined its value if the property is not present, not to mention the civil compensation owed to the victim.