Jersey Law 8/1991
INVESTIGATION OF FRAUD (JERSEY) LAW 1991
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A LAW to
make provision for the investigation of fraud and for connected purposes,
sanctioned by Order of Her Majesty in Council of the
16th day of APRIL 1991
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(Registered on the 17th day of May 1991)
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STATES OF JERSEY
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The 26th day of
February 1991
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THE STATES, subject to the sanction of
Her Most Excellent Majesty in Council, have adopted the following Law –
ARTICLE
1
Interpretation
(1) In
this Law –
“police
officer” means a member of the Honorary Police or a member of the States
of Jersey Police Force;
“documents”
includes information recorded in any form and, in relation to information
recorded otherwise than in legible form, references to its production include
references to producing a copy of the information in legible form.
(2) Any
reference in this Law to a numbered Article or paragraph is a reference to the
Article of that number in this Law, or to the paragraph of that number in the
Article of this Law in which the reference occurs.
ARTICLE
2
Attorney General’s powers of investigation
(1) The
powers of the Attorney General under this Article shall be exercisable in any
case in which it appears to him that –
(a) there
is a suspected offence involving serious or complex fraud, wherever committed;
and
(b) there
is good reason to do so for the purpose of investigating the affairs, or any
aspect of the affairs, of any person.
(2) The
Attorney General may by notice in writing require the person whose affairs are
to be investigated (“the person under investigation”) or any other
person who he has reason to believe has relevant information to answer
questions or otherwise furnish information with respect to any matter relevant
to the investigation at a specified place and either at a specified time or
forthwith.
(3) The
Attorney General may by notice in writing require the person under
investigation or any other person to produce at such place as may be specified
in the notice and either forthwith or at such time as may be so specified any
specified documents which appear to the Attorney General to relate to any
matter relevant to the investigation or any documents of a specified
description which appear to him so to relate; and
(a) if
any such documents are produced, the Attorney General may –
(i) take
copies or extracts from them;
(ii) require
the person producing them to provide an explanation of any of them;
(b) if
any such documents are not produced, the Attorney General may require the
person who was required to produce them to state, to the best of his knowledge
and belief, where they are.
(4) If,
on an application by the Attorney General, the Bailiff is satisfied, in
relation to any documents, that there are reasonable grounds for believing
–
(a) that
–
(i) a
person has failed to comply with an obligation under this Article to produce
them;
(ii) it
is not practicable to serve a notice under paragraph (3) in relation to them;
or
(iii) the
service of such a notice in relation to them might seriously prejudice the
investigation; and
(b) that
they are on premises specified in the application, he may issue such a warrant
as is mentioned in paragraph (5).
(5) The
warrant referred to in paragraph (4) is a warrant authorizing any police
officer –
(a) to
enter (using such force as is reasonably necessary for the purpose) and search
the premises; and
(b) to
take possession of any documents appearing to be documents of the description
specified in the application or to take in relation to any documents so
appearing any other steps which may appear to be necessary for preserving them
and preventing interference with them.
(6) A
police officer executing a warrant issued under paragraph (4) may be
accompanied by any person or persons expressly authorized for that purpose by
the Attorney General.
(7) A
statement by a person in response to a requirement imposed by virtue of this
Article may only be used in evidence against him –
(a) on
a prosecution for an offence under paragraph (13); or
(b) on
a prosecution for some other offence where in giving evidence he makes a
statement inconsistent with it.
(8) A
person shall not under this Article be required to disclose any information or
produce any document which he would be entitled to refuse to disclose or
produce on grounds of legal professional privilege in proceedings in the Royal
Court, except that a lawyer may be required to furnish the name and address of
his client.
(9) A
person shall not under this Article be required to disclose information or
produce a document in respect of which he owes an obligation of confidence by
virtue of carrying on any banking business unless –
(a) the
person to whom the obligation of confidence is owed consents to the disclosure
or production; or
(b) the
Attorney General has authorized the making of the requirement.
(10) The Attorney
General may authorize any Crown Advocate to exercise on his behalf all or any
of the powers conferred by this Article, but no such authority shall be granted
except for the purpose of investigating the affairs, or any aspect of the
affairs, of a person specified in the authority.
(11) No person
shall be bound to comply with any requirement imposed by a person exercising
powers by virtue of any authority granted under paragraph (10) unless he has,
if required to do so, produced evidence of his authority.
(12) Any person
who without reasonable excuse fails to comply with a requirement imposed on him
under this Article shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to
imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine or to both.
(13) A person who,
in purported compliance with a requirement under this Article –
(a) makes
a statement which he knows to be false or misleading in a material particular;
or
(b) recklessly
makes a statement which is false or misleading in a material particular,
shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to
imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine or to both.
(14) If any person
–
(a) knows
or suspects that an investigation by the Attorney General into serious or
complex fraud is being or is likely to be carried out; and
(b) falsifies,
conceals, destroys or otherwise disposes of, or causes or permits the
falsification, concealment, destruction or disposal of, documents which he
knows or suspects are or would be relevant to such an investigation,
he shall be guilty of an offence unless he proves that he had no
intention of concealing the facts disclosed by the documents from persons
carrying out such an investigation.
(15) A person
guilty of an offence under paragraph (14) shall, on conviction, be liable to
imprisonment for a term not exceeding seven years or to a fine or to both.
(16) For avoidance
of doubt, the powers of the Attorney General under this Article shall be
exercisable notwithstanding that the suspected offence was committed prior to
the coming into force of this Law.
ARTICLE
3
Disclosure of information
(1) If
any information is subject to an obligation of secrecy imposed by or under any
enactment whether passed before or after this Law, that obligation shall not
have effect to prohibit the disclosure of that information to the Attorney
General or a Crown Advocate duly authorized under paragraph (10) of Article 2,
but any information received by such a person by virtue of this paragraph may
only be disclosed by him for the purpose of a prosecution in the Bailiwick or
elsewhere.
(2) Without
prejudice to his power to enter into agreements apart from this paragraph, the
Attorney General may enter into an agreement for the supply of information to
or by him subject, in either case, to an obligation not to disclose the
information concerned otherwise than for a specified purpose.
(3) Subject
to paragraph (1) and to any provision of an agreement for the supply of information
which restricts the disclosure of the information supplied, information
obtained by the Attorney General or a Crown Advocate duly authorized under
paragraph (10) of Article 2 may be disclosed in the interests of justice to any
person or body for the purposes of any investigation of an offence or
prosecution in the Bailiwick or elsewhere.
ARTICLE 4
Citation and
commencement
This Law may be cited as the Investigation of Fraud (Jersey) Law
1991, and shall come into force on the eighteenth day of May 1991, or on the
day following its registration in the Royal Court, whichever is later.
R.S. GRAY
Greffier of the States.