PREVENTION OF ORGANISED CRIME ACT (121 of 1998)

3. Penalties

(1) Any person convicted of an offence referred to in section 2 (1) shall be liable to a fine not exceeding R1 000 million, or to imprisonment for a period up to imprisonment for life.

(2) Notwithstanding any other law dealing with the penal jurisdiction of the regional court, if a regional court, after it has convicted an accused of an offence referred to in section 2 (1) following on

(a) a plea of guilty; or

(b) a plea of not guilty,

but before sentence, is of the opinion that the offence in respect of which the accused has been convicted merits punishment

(i) in excess of the penal jurisdiction of the regional court but not exceeding a fine of R1 00 million or a period of 30 years imprisonment, the regional court shall have jurisdiction to impose such penalty even though that penalty exceeds the penal jurisdiction of that court; or

(ii) exceeding a fine of R1 00 million or a period of 30 years imprisonment or merits imprisonment for life, the regional court shall stop the proceedings and commit the accused for sentence by a High Court having jurisdiction.

(3) If a regional court has committed an accused for sentence by a High Court in terms of subsection (2) the provisions of section 52 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1997 (Act 105 of 1997), notwithstanding the provisions of section 53, shall apply with the necessary changes regarding the referral by the regional court to the High Court.