EVIDENCE ACT 1929 - SECT 49
EVIDENCE ACT 1929 - SECT 49
49—Power to order inspection of banking records etc
(1) On the application
of any party to a legal proceeding a judge may order that such party be at
liberty to inspect and take copies of a banking record for any of the purposes
of such proceedings.
(a) a
Judge of the Supreme Court; or
(b) a
District Court Judge; or
(c) a
Magistrate,
is satisfied on the application of a member of the police force or an officer
of the Corporate Affairs Commission that it would be in the interests of the
administration of justice to permit the applicant to inspect and take copies
of banking records, the Judge may order that the applicant be at liberty to
inspect and take copies of those banking records.
(2) An order under
this section may be made either with or without summoning the bank or any
other person, and shall be served on the bank three clear days before the same
is to be obeyed, unless the judge otherwise directs. Any Sunday or public
holiday shall be excluded from the computation of time under this section.
(3) Subject to
subsection (4), where an order is made under subsection (1a), the
applicant shall cause a copy of the order to be served personally or by post
on the person subject to investigation within six months of the date of the
order or such further period as may be allowed by a Judge.
Maximum penalty: $1 000.
(4) Service of a copy
of an order is not required under subsection (3)—
(a) if
evidence of the commission of an offence was obtained in pursuance of the
order and, within the period allowed under subsection (3) for service of
a copy of the order, the person subject to investigation is charged with that
offence; or
(b) if
the whereabouts of the person on whom the copy is to be served is unknown and
not ascertainable by reasonable inquiry.
(5) A reference in
subsection (3) or (4) to the person subject to investigation shall be
construed as a reference to the person to whose financial transactions the
banking records subject to inspection in pursuance of an order under
subsection (1a) relate.
(6) Copies of
applications made under subsection (1a) shall be retained for a period of
six years—
(a) in
the case of applications made by members of the police force—by the
Commissioner of Police; and
(b) in
the case of applications made by officers of the Corporate Affairs
Commission—by the Corporate Affairs Commission.
(7) The Commissioner
of Police shall in each calendar year report to the Minister responsible for
the police force the number of applications made under subsection (1a) by
members of the police force during the previous calendar year, and the
Corporate Affairs Commission shall in each calendar year report to the
Minister to whom it is responsible the number of applications made under
subsection (1a) by officers of the Commission during the previous
calendar year.
(8) A report under
subsection (7) may be incorporated in any other annual report that the
Commissioner of Police or the Corporate Affairs Commission (as the case may
be) is required by or under statute to make to the Minister to whom the report
under that subsection is to be submitted.
(9) A person who
divulges, otherwise than in the course of his official duties, information
obtained by him by virtue of an order under subsection (1a) shall be
guilty of an offence and liable to a penalty not exceeding $5 000.