LIQUOR CONTROL ACT 1988 - SECT 161
LIQUOR CONTROL ACT 1988 - SECT 161
161 . Search warrants, issue and execution of
(1) If a justice is
satisfied, upon an application supported by evidence on oath, that there is
reason to suspect that liquor is kept on any premises for purposes
contravening section 109, 110 or 111 or that there are on the premises records
which are relevant to the assessment of a subsidy the justice may, by warrant
in the prescribed form, empower any authorised officer, and any other person
requested by that authorised officer to assist, to —
(a)
enter those premises; and
(b) use
such force as may be reasonably necessary for entry or for breaking open any
receptacle or other thing on the premises; and
(c)
search for and seize any liquor, or any containers or packaging believed to
contain any liquor, or any vessels used or believed to be used for the
consumption of any liquor, or any records or other article, found on the
premises and believed on reasonable grounds to have been involved in the
commission of any offence specified in the warrant or any other offence
against this Act; and
(d) take
possession of, or secure against interference, any records that appear to be
relevant to the assessment of a subsidy; and
(e) to
deliver any records taken into the possession of the Director or a person
authorised by the Director to receive them.
(2) An authorised
officer who executes a search warrant shall carry the warrant with him or her,
and shall produce it for inspection —
(a) on
first entering the premises, to the person appearing to be in charge of the
premises; and
(b)
whenever subsequently required to do so on the premises by any other person
appearing to be in charge of the premises or any part of the premises.
(3) A search warrant
—
(a) may
be directed to an authorised officer by name or to every authorised officer,
but in either case may be executed by any police officer; and
(b) may
be made subject to conditions imposed by the justice when issuing the warrant;
and
(c)
shall have effect for 14 days or, if a particular purpose is specified in the
warrant, until the purpose is satisfied.
(4) Where the occupier
of the premises is not present at the time the search warrant is executed, the
authorised officer shall leave in a prominent place on the premises a written
statement of the time and date of the search, and of that person’s name
and the address to which enquiries should be made.
(5) Where any thing is
seized in execution of a search warrant, the authorised officer executing the
warrant shall leave in a prominent place on the premises, or send to the
occupier within 10 days after the date of the search, a written inventory of
all of the things that were seized.
(6) If, under this
section, a person takes possession of or secures against interference any
records, that person or any person into whose possession they were delivered
under subsection (1)(e) —
(a) may
make copies of or take extracts from the records; and
(b) may
retain possession of the records for such period as is necessary to enable
them to be inspected, and copies to be made of or extracts to be taken from
them, by or on behalf of the Director; and
(c)
during that period must permit a person who would be entitled to inspect any
one or more of those records, if they were not in the possession of the
Director or a person authorised by the Director, to inspect at all reasonable
times such of those records as that person would otherwise be entitled to
inspect.
(7) A person who
hinders or obstructs a person executing a warrant under this section commits
an offence.
Penalty: a fine of $10 000.
[Section 161 amended: No. 56 of 1997 s. 48; No. 84
of 2004 s. 80; No. 73 of 2006 s. 109 and 110; No. 56 of 2010 s. 69; No. 25 of
2023 s. 21(1).]