(1)Any person to whom a notice under section 14 is given commits an offence if the person—
(a)deliberately alters, suppresses, conceals or destroys any document which that person is required to produce by the notice, or
(b)refuses or fails to produce any such document.
(2)It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under subsection (1)(b) to prove that there was a reasonable excuse for the refusal or failure.
(3)A person is not obliged under section 14 to produce any document which that person would be entitled to refuse to produce in a court in Scotland.
(4)A person who commits an offence under this section is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding 3 months.
(5)Where an offence under this section 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)a director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate, or
(b)any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity,
that person, as well as the body corporate, commits the offence and is liable to be proceeded against accordingly.
Commencement Information
I1S. 15 in force at 13.5.2015 by S.S.I. 2015/115, art. 3