NATIONAL COMPANIES AND SECURITIES COMMISSION ACT 1979 No. 173, 1979 - SECT 47 Secrecy

NATIONAL COMPANIES AND SECURITIES COMMISSION ACT 1979 No. 173, 1979 - SECT 47

47. (1) Subject to this section, a person who is, or has at any time been-

   (a)  appointed for the purposes of this Act or any other prescribed Act;

   (b)  engaged as a member of the staff of the Commission; or

   (c)  authorized to perform or exercise any function or power of the
        Commission or any function or power on behalf of the Commission, shall
        not, except to the extent necessary to perform his official duties, or
        to perform or exercise such a function or power, either directly or
        indirectly, make a record of, or divulge or communicate to any person,
        any information that is or was acquired by him by reason of his being
        or having been so appointed, engaged or authorized, or make use of any
        such information, for any purpose other than the performance of his
        official duties or the performance or exercise of that function or
        power.

Penalty: $5,000 or imprisonment for one year, or both.

(2) Nothing in sub-section (1) precludes a person from-

   (a)  producing a document to a court in the course of criminal proceedings
        or in the course of any proceedings under this Act, any other
        prescribed Act or any prescribed State Act;

   (b)  divulging or communicating to a court in the course of any proceedings
        referred to in paragraph (a) any matter or thing coming under his
        notice in the performance of his official duties or in the performance
        of a function or the exercise of a power referred to in that
        sub-section;

   (c)  producing a document or divulging or communicating information to a
        person to whom, in the opinion of the Commission, it is in the public
        interest that the document be produced or the information be divulged
        or communicated; or

   (d)  producing a document or divulging or communicating information that is
        required or permitted by any Act or State Act to be produced, divulged
        or communicated, as the case may be.