27.—(1) The High Court may make a charging order on realisable property for securing the payment to the Crown—
(a)where a fixed amount is payable under an external confiscation order, of an amount not exceeding the amount so payable, and
(b)in any other case, of an amount equal to the value from time to time of the property charged.
(2) For the purposes of this Act a charging order is an order made under this section imposing on any such realisable property as may be specified in the order a charge for securing the payment of money to the Crown.
(3) A charging order—
(a)may only be made on an application by or on behalf of the government of a designated country or, in a case where an external confiscation order has been registered under section 40 of this Act, by a Crown Prosecutor, or a person authorised in that behalf by the Commissioners of Customs and Excise;
(b)may be made on an ex parte application to a judge in chambers;
(c)shall provide for service on, or the provision of notice to, persons affected by the order in such manner as the High Court may direct; and
(d)may be made subject to such conditions as the court thinks fit including, without prejudice to the generality of this paragraph, such conditions as it thinks fit as to the time when the charge is to become effective.
(4) Subject to subsection (6) below, a charge may be imposed by a charging order only on—
(a)any interest in realisable property which is an interest held beneficially by the defendant or by a person to whom the defendant has directly or indirectly made a gift caught by this Act and is an interest—
(i)in any asset of a kind mentioned in subsection (5) below; or
(ii)under any trust; or
(b)any interest in realisable property held by a person as trustee of a trust (“the relevant trust”) if the interest is in such an asset or is an interest under another trust and a charge may by virtue of paragraph (a) above be imposed by a charging order on the whole beneficial interest under the relevant trust.
(5) The assets referred to in subsection (4) above are—
(a)land in England and Wales; or
(b)securities of any of the following kinds—
(i)government stock;
(ii)stock of any body (other than a building society) incorporated within England and Wales;
(iii)stock of any body incorporated outside England and Wales or of any country or territory outside the United Kingdom, being stock registered in a register kept at any place within England and Wales;
(iv)units of any unit trust in respect of which a register of the unit holders is kept at any place within England and Wales.
(6) In any case where a charge is imposed by a charging order on any interest in an asset of a kind mentioned in subsection (5)(b) above, the court may provide for the charge to extend to any interest or dividend payable in respect of the asset.
(7) In relation to a charging order, the court—
(a)may make an order discharging or varying it; and
(b)shall make an order discharging it—
(i)on the conclusion of the proceedings against the defendant in the designated country; or
(ii)on payment into court of the amount payment of which is secured by the charge.
(8) An application for the discharge or variation of a charging order may be made by any person affected by it.
(9) In this section “building society”, “dividend”, “government stock”, “stock” and “unit trust” have the same meaning as in the Charging Orders Act 1979(1).