49.Section 19 imposes an obligation on relevant institutions to inform the Treasury as soon as practicable if, during the course of their business, they have or obtain information which causes the institution to know or suspect that a person is a designated person or has committed an offence under any provision of Chapter 2 (prohibitions in relation to designated persons) (subsection (1)). Subsection (2) requires that where a relevant institution has identified a person as a designated person or someone who has committed a Chapter 2 offence, the institution must inform the Treasury of the information which led to the person being so identified and state any information which can be used to identify the customer. Subsections (3) and (4) provide that if it knows or reasonably suspects that a customer is a designated person the institution must also tell the Treasury of the nature and amount of funds or economic resources it holds in respect of that customer. Subsection (5) makes it an offence for a relevant institution to fail to comply with any requirement of subsection (1), (2) or (4).
50.Section 20 gives the Treasury the power to request information from designated persons and others.
51.Subsection (1) gives the Treasury the power to request information from a designated person concerning funds and economic resources owned, held or controlled by or on behalf of that person and any disposal of such funds or economic resources.
52.Subsection (2) gives the Treasury the power to request from a designated person such information as they may reasonably require about expenditure by or on behalf of the designated person and for such person’s benefit.
53.Subsection (3) makes it clear that the powers in subsections (1) and (2) are only exercisable where the Treasury believe it is necessary for the purposes of monitoring compliance with or detecting evasion of Part 1 of the Act.
54.Subsection (4) allows the Treasury to request information from a person acting under a licence concerning funds, economic resources and financial services dealt with or made available under the licence.
55.Subsection (5) gives the Treasury the power to request any person in, or resident in, the UK to provide information for the purpose of establishing the nature and amount or quantity of any funds, economic resources or financial services owned, held or controlled by or on behalf of, or made available to or for the benefit of, a designated person, establishing the nature of any financial transactions entered into by the designated person, monitoring compliance with or detecting evasion of Part 1 of the Act, or obtaining evidence of the commission of an offence under that Part.
56.Subsection (6) allows the Treasury to specify the manner in which, and the period within which, information is to be provided, although subsection (7) provides that if no period is specified, it must be provided within a reasonable time. Subsection (8) specifies that the Treasury is entitled to impose a continuing obligation to be informed as circumstances change or on such regular basis as they specify. Subsection (9) makes it clear that a request for information can cover any period of time when a person was designated, and subsection (10) provides that for requests made under subsections (1)(b), (2) or (5)(a)(iii) requests for information can relate to a period before a person was designated.
57.Section 21 provides that where the Treasury make a request for information under section 20, they may request that specified documents or documents of a specified kind or description are produced (subsection (1)).
58.Subsection (2) allows the Treasury to take copies or extracts from any such document and request any person producing a document (or, if the person producing the document is a body corporate, partnership or unincorporated body, any present or past partner, officer or employee of such body) to give an explanation of it.
59.Subsection (3) requires that a designated person or a person acting under a licence, who is requested to produce documents, must take reasonable steps to obtain the documents (if not in the person’s possession or control) and keep the documents (if they have them already).
60.This section makes it an offence for a person to (a) without reasonable excuse, refuse or fail within the time and in the manner specified (or within a reasonable time if no time is specified) to comply with any information request under Chapter 3 of Part 1 of the Act, (b) knowingly or recklessly give any information or produce any document which is false in a material particular in response to such a request, (c) with intent to evade the provisions of Chapter 3, destroy, mutilate, deface, conceal or remove any document, or (d) otherwise intentionally obstruct the Treasury in the exercise of their powers under Chapter 3 (subsection (1)). Subsection (2) provides that where a person is convicted of any such offence, the court may make an order requiring that person to comply with the request.
61.This section gives the Treasury power to disclose any information obtained by them in exercise of their powers under Part 1 of the Act to various people and entities, including (a) any police officer, (b) any person holding or acting in any office under or in the service of the Crown in right of the Government of the UK, the Scottish Administration, the Northern Ireland Administration or the Welsh Assembly Government, the Channel Island States and the governments of the Isle of Man or any British overseas territory, (c) any law officer of the Crown for Jersey, Guernsey or the Isle of Man, (d) the Legal Services Commission and equivalent bodies in Scotland and Northern Ireland and (e) the respective financial regulators in the UK, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man (subsection (1)(a) to (e)).
62.The Treasury may also disclose any information to any organ of the UN or any person in the service of the UN, the Council of the European Union, the European Commission or the Government of any country for the purpose of giving assistance or cooperation, pursuant to certain UN Security Council Resolutions (defined in section 42(2) to (4)) (subsection (1)(f)).
63.Information can be disclosed with a view to instituting, or otherwise for the purposes of, any proceedings in the UK for an offence under Part 1 of the Act or in any of the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man or any British overseas territory for an offence under a similar provision in any such jurisdiction (subsection (1)(g)).
64.Subsection (1)(h) further allows information to be disclosed to any third party with the consent of a person who, in their own right, is entitled to the information or to possession of the document, copy or extract (subsection (2) defines “in their own right”).
65.Section 24 requires the Treasury to take such steps as they consider appropriate to co-operate with any investigation, in the UK or elsewhere, relating to the funds, economic resources or financial transactions of a designated person.
66.This section includes some general provisions, including (a) clarification that nothing done under Chapter 3 of Part 1 of the Act is to be treated as a breach of any restriction imposed by statute or otherwise (subsection (1)), (b) provision that nothing in Chapter 3 of Part 1 of the Act authorises a disclosure by the Treasury that contravenes the Data Protection Act 1998 or is prohibited by Part 1 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (subsection (2)), (c) clarification that no solicitor or counsel is required to produce any privileged information or document (subsection (3)), (d) provision that the Chapter is not to be read as limiting any other powers the Treasury has to disclose information (subsection (4)) and (e) stipulating that nothing in the Chapter is to be treated as limiting the powers of the Treasury to impose conditions in connection with the discharge of their functions under section 17 (licences) (subsection (5)). Subsection (6) provides a definition of ‘privileged information’ for the purpose of this section.