MISREPRESENTATION ACT 1972 - SECT 4
MISREPRESENTATION ACT 1972 - SECT 4
4—Misrepresentation made in the course of trade or business
(1) Where, in the
course of a trade or business, a misrepresentation is made by the person by
whom the trade or business is conducted, a person duly authorised to act on
his or her behalf, or a person acting in the course of his or her
employment—
(a) for
the purpose of causing or inducing any other person to enter into a contract;
or
(b) for
the purpose of causing or inducing any other person to pay any pecuniary
amount, or to make over or transfer any real or personal property, to the
person by whom the representation is made or any other person,
the person by whom the trade or business is conducted, and the person by whom
the representation is made, are each guilty of an offence.
Maximum penalty:
(a) in
the case of a body corporate—$100 000; or
(b) in
any other case—$20 000.
(2) Where in any
proceedings under this section it is proved that a misrepresentation in fact
acted as a material inducement to any person—
(a) to
enter into a contract; or
(b) to
pay any pecuniary amount, or to make over or transfer any real or personal
property, to the person by whom the representation was made, or any other
person,
and that, in consequence, the person by whom the representation was made, or a
person on whose behalf, or in whose employment, that person was acting,
derived any direct or indirect consideration or material advantage, it will be
presumed, in the absence of proof to the contrary, that the representation was
made for the purpose of inducing the person to whom it was made to enter into
that contract, to pay that pecuniary amount, or to make over or transfer that
real or personal property, as the case may require.
(3) It is a defence to
a prosecution under this section—
(a) that
the person by whom the representation was made believed upon reasonable
grounds that the representation was true; or
(b)
where the defendant is not the person by whom the representation was
made—
(i)
that the defendant took all reasonable precautions to
prevent the commission of offences against this section by persons acting on
his or her behalf, or in his or her employment; or
(ii)
that the defendant did not know, and could not reasonably
be expected to have known, that the representation had been made, or that it
was untrue.
(4) For the purposes
of this section a representation constitutes a misrepresentation if it is
false in any material particular.
(6) This section does
not affect any civil remedy, or any other statutory sanction or remedy, in
respect of a misrepresentation.
(9) Proceedings for an
offence against this section must not be commenced unless the Attorney-General
has consented to the commencement of those proceedings.
(10) In any
proceedings for an offence against this section, an apparently genuine
document purporting to record the consent of the Attorney-General to the
commencement of those proceedings will be accepted as proof of that consent in
the absence of evidence to the contrary.