(1)An application under this section may be made—
(a)in England and Wales, to a judge of the High Court by the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Secretary of State or a chief officer of police;
(b)in Scotland, to one of the Lords Commissioners of Justiciary by the Lord Advocate;
(c)in Northern Ireland, to the High Court by the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment or a chief superintendent of the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
(2)If on an application under this section there is shown to be reasonable cause to believe—
(a)that any person has, while an officer of a company, committed an offence in connection with the management of the company’s affairs, and
(b)that evidence of the commission of the offence is to be found in any documents in the possession or control of the company,
an order under this section may be made.
(3)The order may—
(a)authorise any person named in it to inspect the documents in question, or any of them, for the purpose of investigating and obtaining evidence of the offence, or
(b)require the secretary of the company, or such other officer of it as may be named in the order, to produce the documents (or any of them) to a person named in the order at a place so named.
(4)This section applies also in relation to documents in the possession or control of a person carrying on the business of banking, so far as they relate to the company’s affairs, as it applies to documents in the possession or control of the company, except that no such order as is referred to in subsection (3)(b) may be made by virtue of this subsection.
(5)The decision under this section of a judge of the High Court, any of the Lords Commissioners of Justiciary or the High Court is not appealable.
(6)In this section “document” includes information recorded in any form.