The Zimbabwe (Freezing of Funds and Economic Resources) Regulations 2004

Regulation 4

SCHEDULEINFORMATION

1.—(1) The Treasury or the Bank of England (or any person authorised by the Treasury or the Bank of England for that purpose, either generally or in a particular case) (“the requesting authority”) may request any person in or resident in the United Kingdom to furnish to the requesting authority any information in his possession or control, or to produce to the requesting authority any document in his possession or control, which the requesting authority may require for the purpose of ensuring compliance with the EC Regulation; and any person to whom such a request is made shall comply with it within such time and in such manner as may be specified in the request.

(2) Nothing in sub-paragraph (1) shall require any person who has acted as counsel or solicitor for any person to disclose any privileged document or information in his possession in that capacity.

(3) Where a person is convicted of an offence under paragraph 2 of this Schedule of failing to furnish any information or produce any document, the court may make an order requiring him, within such period as may be specified in the order, to furnish the information or produce the document.

(4) The power conferred by this paragraph to request any person to produce documents shall include power to take copies of or extracts from any document so produced and to request that person or, where that person is a body corporate, any other person who is a present or past officer of, or is employed by, the body corporate, to provide an explanation of any such document.

2.  Any person who—

(a)without reasonable excuse, refuses or fails within the time and in the manner specified (or, if no time has been specified, within a reasonable time) to comply with any request made under this Schedule;

(b)intentionally furnishes false information or a false explanation to any person exercising his powers under this Schedule; or

(c)with intent to evade the provisions of this Schedule, destroys, mutilates, defaces, secretes or removes any document,

is guilty of an offence.

3.—(1) No information furnished or document produced (including any copy or extract made of any document produced) by any person in pursuance of a request made under this Schedule shall be disclosed except—

(a)with the consent of the person by whom the information was furnished or the document was produced: provided that a person who has obtained information or is in possession of a document only in his capacity as servant or agent of another person may not give consent for the purposes of this sub-paragraph but such consent may instead be given by any person who is entitled to that information or to possession of that document in his own right;

(b)to any person who would have been empowered under this Schedule to request that it be furnished or produced or any person holding or acting in any office under or in the service of the Crown in respect of the Government of the United Kingdom;

(c)on the authority of the Treasury, to the European Commission or to any of the competent authorities listed in Annex II to the EC Regulation, for the purpose of assisting the Commission or that competent authority to ensure compliance with the EC Regulation; or

(d)with a view to the institution of, or otherwise for the purposes of, any proceedings for an offence under these Regulations.

(2) Any person who, without reasonable excuse, discloses information or a document in contravention of paragraph (1) is guilty of an offence.