34Offences
(1)A person who—
(a)refuses or fails without reasonable cause to comply with a requirement of a preliminary notice under section 28 above;
(b)refuses or fails without reasonable cause to furnish information required under this Part of this Act; or
(c)in furnishing such information makes a statement which he knows to be false in a material particular or recklessly makes a statement which is false in a material particular,
shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £400.
(2)Where a person is convicted of an offence under subsection (1)(b) above, then, if the default in respect of which he was convicted is continued without reasonable cause after the conviction, he shall be guilty of a further offence and liable oh summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £40 for each day on which the default is continued.
(3)A person who contravenes section 33 above shall be guilty of an offence and liable—
(a)on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £200 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, or to both, and
(b)on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine, or to both.
(4)Summary proceedings for an offence under subsection (1)(c) above may be brought within a period of six months from the date on which evidence sufficient in the opinion of the prosecutor to warrant the proceedings came to his knowledge; but no proceedings shall be brought by virtue of this subsection more than three years after the commission of the offence.
(5)For the purposes of subsection (4) above a certificate signed by or on behalf of the prosecutor and stating the date on which evidence as aforesaid came to his knowledge shall be conclusive evidence of that fact; and a certificate stating that matter and purporting to be so signed shall be deemed to be so signed unless the contrary is proved.
(6)Where an offence under this Part of this Act committed by a body corporate or a Scottish firm is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to have been attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate or firm or a person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, he as well as the body corporate or, as the case may be, the firm shall be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
(7)Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, subsection (6) above shall apply in relation to the acts and defaults of a member in connection with his functions of management as if he were a director of the body corporate.
(8)Proceedings for an offence under this Part of this Act, other than an offence under subsection (3) above, shall not be instituted—
(a)in England and Wales, except by or with the consent of the Attorney General;
(b)in Northern Ireland except by or with the consent of the Attorney General for Northern Ireland.
(9)Summary proceedings for an offence under this Part of this Act may (without prejudice to any jurisdiction exercisable apart from this subsection) be taken against a body corporate at any place where it has a place of business and against any other person at any place where he is.