Section 8

The Commissioner may by order require any person having in his possession or control any books, records, deeds or papers relating to a charity to furnish him with copies of or extracts from any of those documents or, unless the document forms part of the records or other documents of a court or of a public authority, require him to transmit the document itself to him for his inspection, and any person who fails to comply with any requirement specified in the order shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $2,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.

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 charity trustees or to any other person who may be so entitled.

No person claiming to hold any property adversely to a charity, or freed or discharged from any charitable trust or charge, shall be required under subsection (1) to transmit to the Commissioner any document relating to that property or any trust or charge alleged to affect it, or to furnish any copy of or extract from any such document.

No person properly having the custody of documents relating only to an exempt charity shall be required under subsection (1) to transmit to the Commissioner any of those documents, or to furnish any copy of or extract from any of them.