Offences and penalties
17.—(1) A person is guilty of an offence if—
(a)for the purposes of obtaining financial support under these Regulations for himself or herself or for any other person, he or she knowingly or recklessly makes a statement which is false or misleading in a material particular; or
(b)he or she intentionally obstructs an authorised person (or a person accompanying an authorised person and acting under their instructions) in the exercise of his or her powers under regulation 11.
(2) A person guilty of an offence under paragraph(1)(a) shall be liable—
(a)on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale; or
(b)on conviction on indictment, to a fine.
(3) A person guilty of an offence under paragraph (1)(b) shall be liable on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.
(4) No prosecution for an offence under paragraph (1) which, by virtue of paragraph 2(a), is triable summarily shall be commenced after the expiration of three years from the commission of the offence or one year from the date that, in the prosecutor’s opinion, evidence sufficient to justify the proceedings came to his or her knowledge, whichever is the earlier.
(5) Where paragraph 4 applies—
(a)a statement of the date on which evidence sufficient in the prosecutor’s opinion to justify the proceedings came to his or her knowledge is conclusive evidence of its contents if signed by or on behalf of the prosecutor; and
(b)such a statement purporting to be so signed shall be treated as being so signed unless the contrary is proved.
(6) Where an offence under this regulation 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 director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of that body or any person who was purporting to act in such a capacity, he or she is also guilty of the offence and liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
(7) Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, paragraph (6) applies to acts and defaults of a member in connection with his or her management functions as if he or she were a director.