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Proceeds Of Serious Crime - Production Orders (Ss 18-19)

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PART VI
Production Orders (ss 18-19)

[Ch0803s18]18.     Production orders

            (1) Where a person has been convicted of a serious offence, or there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that he has committed a serious offence, and there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that documents relevant to the offence, or that may assist in any way in tracking or identifying the proceeds of the offence, or in assessing the value of those proceeds, or in tracking, identifying or assessing the value of any property of the person convicted of the offence, or suspected of having committed the offence, are in the possession of or under the control of any person, the Director of Public Prosecutions may apply to a magistrate or a judge of the High Court for a production order in respect of those documents.

            (2) An application for a production order shall be supported by an affidavit sworn by a police officer of or above the rank of Inspector setting out the grounds for the application, and the basis for any suspicions as to the commission of the offence, or as to the location of any such documents as are referred to in subsection (1).

            (3) A magistrate or a judge before whom an application is made under this section, may, if he is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for making the order, issue a production order, subject to such conditions as he may think fit to impose, ordering any person to produce to a police officer any document of the kind referred to in subsection (1) that are in such person's possession or under his control, or to make such documents available to a police officer for inspection, at such time or place as may be specified in the order.

            (4) Where a document is produced or made available to a police officer under this section he may take extracts from it or make copies of it, and if it was ordered to be produced to him, he may retain it if, and for so long as, its retention is reasonably necessary for the purposes of this Act.

            (5) A person shall not be excused from producing or making available a document when ordered to do so under this section on the ground that producing it or making it available might tend to incriminate him or make him liable to a penalty, or that it would or might be in breach of an obligation (whether imposed by an enactment or otherwise) of the person not to disclose the existence or contents of the document:

            Provided that any information, document or thing obtained as a direct or indirect consequence of the production or making available of the document shall not be admissible in evidence against the person producing it or making it available in any criminal proceedings except in respect of an offence under section 19.

            (6) For the purposes of the proviso to subsection (5) proceedings on an application for a confiscation order or a restraining order are not criminal proceedings.

            (7) Where a police officer retains a document pursuant to an order under this section, he shall, on request of the person to whom the order is addressed, give to that person a copy of the document, certified under his hand to be a true copy of the document.

            (8) Where a production order requires a person to produce a document to a police officer, the person may apply to a magistrate's court or the High Court for a variation of the order, and if the court is satisfied that the document is essential to the business activities of the person, and the interests of justice will not thereby be jeopardised, it may vary the terms of the production order so that it requires the person to make the document available to a police officer for inspection.

[Ch0803s19]19.     Failure to comply with production order

            Where a person is required in accordance with the terms of a production order to produce a document to a police officer or to make a document available to a police officer for inspection, and contravenes the order without reasonable excuse, or in purported compliance with the order produces or makes available a document which he knows or has good reason to know is false or misleading in a material particular without disclosing that the document is so false or misleading, and without providing correct information, if he possesses or can reasonably acquire such correct information, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or to a fine not exceeding P10 000, or both.