Offences and penalties
12.—(1) A person is guilty of an offence if—
(a)for the purposes of obtaining financial assistance under these Regulations for himself or herself or for any other person, he or she knowingly or recklessly makes a statement which is false or misleading in a material particular;
(b)in relation to the exercise by the National Assembly of the powers specified in regulation 9(2), he or she knowingly or recklessly makes a statement which is false or misleading in a material particular;
(c)he or she fails, without reasonable excuse, to comply with a requirement imposed by or under regulation 7(3)(b), regulation 7(3)(d) or by regulation 8; or
(d)he or she intentionally obstructs an authorised person (or a person accompanying and acting under his or her instructions) in the exercise of his or her powers under regulation 7.
(2) A person guilty of an offence under paragraph (1)(a) and (b) is liable—
(a)on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale; or
(b)on conviction on indictment, to a fine.
(3) A person guilty of an offence under paragraph (1)(c) or (d) is liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.
(4) Proceedings for an offence under paragraph (1) may, subject to paragraph (5), be commenced within the period of six months from the date on which evidence sufficient in the opinion of the prosecutor to justify the proceedings comes to his or her knowledge.
(5) No proceedings for an offence under paragraph (1) may be commenced more than three years after the commission of the offence.
(6) For the purposes of this regulation, where the proceedings are instituted by the National Assembly—
(a)a certificate signed by or on behalf of the prosecutor and stating the date on which evidence sufficient in his or her opinion to warrant the proceedings came to his or her knowledge is conclusive evidence of that fact;
(b)a certificate stating that matter and purporting to be so signed is deemed to be so signed unless the contrary is proved.
(7) Where an offence under this regulation which has been committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, a director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of that body corporate, or any person who was purporting to act in such capacity, he or she as well as that body corporate is guilty of that offence and is liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
(8) Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, paragraph (7) applies in relation to acts and defaults of a member in connection with his or her management functions as if he or she were a director of that body corporate.