Offences
16. Any person who, in relation to any application (whether by the person or on behalf of another) to a public authority or person appointed under section 8(2) for any financial assistance from the Fund or for the purpose of obtaining any financial assistance from the Fund —(a)
knowingly or recklessly makes any false statement; or
(b)
produces or provides or causes or knowingly allows to be produced or provided any document which the person knows to be false in a material particular,
shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.
Offences by bodies corporate, etc.
17.—(1) Where an offence under this Act committed by a body corporate is proved —(a)
to have been committed with the consent or connivance of an officer; or
(b)
to be attributable to any neglect on the officer’s part,
the officer as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
(2) Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, subsection (1) applies in relation to the acts and defaults of a member in connection with the member’s functions of management as if the member were a director of the body corporate.
(3) Where an offence under this Act committed by a partnership is proved —(a)
to have been committed with the consent or connivance of a partner; or
(b)
to be attributable to any neglect on the partner’s part,
the partner as well as the partnership shall be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
(4) Where an offence under this Act committed by an unincorporated association (other than a partnership) is proved —(a)
to have been committed with the consent or connivance of an officer of the unincorporated association or a member of its governing body; or
(b)
to be attributable to any neglect on the part of the officer or member,
the officer or member as well as the unincorporated association shall be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
(5) In this section —“body corporate” includes a limited liability partnership;
“officer” —(a)
in relation to a body corporate, means any director, partner, member of the committee of management, chief executive, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate and includes any person purporting to act in that capacity; or
(b)
in relation to an unincorporated association (other than a partnership), means the president, the secretary, or any member of the committee of the unincorporated association, or any person holding a position analogous to that of president, secretary or member of such a committee and includes any person purporting to act in that capacity;
“partner” includes a person purporting to act as a partner.
Composition of offences
18.—(1) Any public officer authorised by the Minister may compound any offence under this Act that is prescribed as a compoundable offence by collecting from a person reasonably suspected of having committed the offence a sum not exceeding the lower of the following:(a)
one half of the amount of the maximum fine that is prescribed for the offence;
(b)
$1,000.
(2) On payment of the sum of money, no further proceedings are to be taken against that person in respect of the offence.
(3) The Minister may make regulations prescribing the offences that may be compounded.
Regulations
19.—(1) The Minister may make regulations for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Act.
(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the regulations may —(a)
provide for matters relating to the use of the moneys from the Fund and for all matters connected therewith and incidental thereto, including natural persons or classes of natural persons eligible for financial assistance under a public scheme, and the amount, manner of and the terms and conditions for providing the financial assistance;
(b)
provide for such information, evidence and documents as may be required for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Act;
(c)
prescribe that any act or omission in contravention of any regulations shall be an offence punishable with a fine not exceeding $5,000 or with imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or with both; and
(d)
prescribe anything that may be prescribed under this Act.
