Scotland Act 1998

25 Witnesses and documents: offences

(1) Any person to whom a notice under section 24(1) has been given who—

(a) refuses or fails to attend proceedings as required by the notice,

(b) refuses or fails, when attending proceedings as required by the notice, to answer any question concerning the subjects specified in the notice,

(c) deliberately alters, suppresses, conceals or destroys any document which he is required to produce by the notice, or

(d) refuses or fails to produce any such document,

is guilty of an offence.

(2) Subsection (1) is subject to sections 23(9) and (10) and 27(3).

(3) It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under subsection (1)(a), (b) or (d) to prove that he had a reasonable excuse for the refusal or failure.

(4) A person guilty of 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 three 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,

he, as well as the body corporate, is guilty of that offence and liable to be proceeded against accordingly.