Clause 19

The Commissioner may, for the purpose of discharging his functions under this Act, by order —

require any person to furnish the Commissioner with any information in his possession which relates to any charity or fund-raising appeal; and

require any person who has in his custody or under his control any document which relates to any charity or fund-raising appeal —

to furnish the Commissioner with a copy of or an extract from the document; or

unless the document forms part of the records or other documents of a court or public authority, to transmit the document itself to the Commissioner for his inspection.(2) The Commissioner shall be entitled without payment to keep any copy or extract furnished to him under subsection (1); and where a document transmitted to him for his inspection relates only to one or more charities and is not held by any person entitled as trustee or otherwise to the custody of the document, the Commissioner may keep it or may deliver it to the governing board members or to any other person who may be so entitled.(3) The Commissioner or any officer authorised by him in that behalf shall at all times have full and free access to all buildings, places, books, documents and other papers for the purpose of discharging his functions under this Act, and may, without payment, inspect, copy or make extracts from any such books, documents or papers.(4) The Commissioner may take possession of any books, documents or papers where in his opinion —

the inspection, copying thereof or extraction therefrom cannot reasonably be performed without taking possession;

the books, documents or papers may be interfered with or destroyed unless possession is taken; or

the books, documents or papers may be required as evidence in proceedings for an offence under this Act or any regulations made thereunder.(5) The Commissioner may require any person to give orally or in writing, as may be required, all such information concerning any charity or fund-raising appeal as may be demanded of him by the Commissioner for the purposes of this Act.(6) The rights conferred by this section shall, in relation to information recorded otherwise than in legible form, include the right to require the information to be made available in legible form for inspection or for a copy or extract to be made of or from it.(7) Any person who fails to comply with any requirement specified in any order under subsection (1) or any requirement under subsection (5) 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 one year or to both and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding $50 for every day or part thereof during which the offence continues after conviction.(8) Subject to section 41C(2), no person shall by virtue of this section be obliged to disclose any particulars as to which he is under any statutory obligation to observe secrecy.(9) In this section, “fund-raising appeal” has the same meaning as in section 39(1).Supply of false or misleading information to Commissioner, etc.41B.—

Any person who knowingly or recklessly provides the Commissioner with information which is false or misleading in a material particular shall be guilty of an offence if the information is provided —

in purported compliance with a requirement imposed by or under this Act; or

otherwise than as mentioned in paragraph (a) but in circumstances in which the person providing the information intends, or could reasonably be expected to know, that it would be used by the Commissioner for the purpose of discharging his functions under this Act.(2) Any person who wilfully alters, suppresses, conceals or destroys any document which he is or is liable to be required, by or under this Act, to produce to the Commissioner shall be guilty of an offence.(3) Any person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to both.(4) In this section, references to the Commissioner include references to any person conducting an inquiry under section 8.Disclosure of information to and by Commissioner41C.—

Subject to subsection (2) and to any express restriction imposed by or under any other written law, a body or person to whom this section applies may disclose to the Commissioner any information received by that body or person under or for the purposes of any written law, where the disclosure is made by the body or person for the purpose of enabling or assisting the Commissioner to discharge any of his functions.(2) Subsection (1) shall not have effect in relation to the Comptroller of Income Tax; but the Comptroller may disclose to the Commissioner the following information:

the name and address of any institution which has for any purpose been treated by the Comptroller as established for charitable purposes;

information as to the purposes of an institution and the governing instruments under which it is established or regulated, where the disclosure is made by the Comptroller in order to give or obtain assistance in determining whether the institution ought for any purpose to be treated as established for charitable purposes; and

information with respect to an institution which has for any purpose been treated as so established but which appears to the Comptroller —

to be, or to have been, carrying on activities which are not charitable; or (ii)to be, or to have been, applying any of its funds for purposes which are not charitable.(3) Subject to subsection (4), the Commissioner may disclose to a body or person to whom this section applies any information received by him under or for the purposes of any written law, where the disclosure is made by the Commissioner —

for any purpose connected with the discharge of his functions; and

for the purpose of enabling or assisting that body or person to discharge any of its or his functions.(4) Where any information disclosed to the Commissioner under subsection (1) or (2) is so disclosed subject to any express restriction on the disclosure of the information by the Commissioner, the Commissioner’s power of disclosure under subsection (3) shall, in relation to the information, be exercisable by him subject to any such restriction.(5) This section shall apply to the following bodies and persons:

any Government department;

any statutory authority;

any police officer; and

any other body or person discharging functions of a public nature (including a body or person discharging regulatory functions in relation to any description of activities).(6) Nothing in this section shall be construed as affecting any power of disclosure exercisable apart from this section.”.