Provision of false information
17.—(1) A person (“P”) is guilty of an offence if, in circumstances falling within paragraph (2), P provides false information to the Department for the purpose of—
(a)inducing the Department to exercise, or not to exercise, any of the functions conferred on it by these Regulations; or
(b)inducing the Department to exercise those functions in a particular way.
(2) The circumstances are that, at the time the information is provided, P—
(a)knows or believes the information to be false; or
(b)is reckless as to whether or not it is false.
(3) A person guilty of an offence under paragraph (1) is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.
(4) Proceedings for an offence under paragraph (1) may not be instituted in Northern Ireland except—
(a)by the Department or by a person authorised to do so by the Department; or
(b)by or with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland.
(5) For the purposes of this regulation and regulation 18, section 20(2) of the Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 applies with the omission of the words “the liability of whose members is limited” and, where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, applies in relation to the acts or defaults of a member in connection with the member’s functions of management as if the member were a director of the body corporate.