s 61 Preservation of secrecy
(1) No director, officer, employee, agent or consultant of the Commission or any person who for any reason, has by any means access to any record, book, register, correspondence, document whatsoever, material or information, relating to the business and affairs of the Commission which he has acquired in the performance of his duties or the exercise of his functions, shall give, divulge, reveal, publish or otherwise disclose to any person, such document, material or information unless the disclosure is required or authorized— (a) under this Act, the Co-operative Societies Act 1993 or any other written law enforced by the Commission, regulations, orders, directives or guidelines issued under this Act, the Co-operative Societies Act 1993 or any other written law enforced by the Commission; (b) under any written law; (c) by any court; or (d) for the performance of his duties or the exercise of his functions under this Act, the Co-operative Societies Act 1993 or any other written law enforced by the Commission, regulations, orders, directives or guidelines issued under this Act, the Co-operative Societies Act 1993 or any other written law enforced by the Commission. (2) This section shall not apply to any document, material or information which at the time of the disclosure is, or has already been made, lawfully available to the public from any source or to information which is in the form of a summary or collection of information relating to a particular co-operative society, its members or depositors is not explicitly stated. (3) No person who has any document, material or information which to his knowledge has been disclosed in contravention of subsection (1) shall in any manner however disclose the same to any other person. (4) Where the Commission in the course of the exercise of any of its powers, or the discharge of any of its duties or functions, under this Act, the Co-operative Societies Act 1993, any written law enforced by the Commission or any written law whatsoever, suspects any person to have committed any offence under this Act, the Co-operative Societies Act 1993, any written law enforced by the Commission or any other written law whatsoever, it shall be lawful for the Commission to give information of such commission to a police officer, or to convey any or all information in relation to such offence to any authority or person having power to investigate under, or enforce, the law under which the offence is suspected by the Commission to have been committed. (5) Subsection (4) shall have full force and effect, notwithstanding any inconsistency therewith, or contrary thereto, in this Act, the Co-operative Societies Act 1993, any written law enforced by the Commission or any other written law.