Financial Transaction Reports Act 1988

PART V - ENFORCEMENT  

SECTION 29   FALSE OR MISLEADING INFORMATION  

29(1)    

A cash dealer shall not, in communicating information to the AUSTRAC CEO as required under Part II or III :

(a) intentionally make a statement that the cash dealer knows is false or misleading in a material particular; or

(b) intentionally omit from a statement any matter or thing without which the cash dealer knows the statement is misleading in a material particular.

29(2)    
A financial institution shall not, in maintaining the institution ' s exemption register as required under Division 1 of Part II :

(a) intentionally make a statement that the financial institution knows is false or misleading in a material particular; or

(b) intentionally omit from a statement any matter or thing without which the financial institution knows the statement is misleading in a material particular.

29(2A)    

A person must not, in communicating information to the AUSTRAC CEO as required under section 15A :

(a) intentionally make a statement that the person knows is false or misleading in a material particular; or

(b) intentionally omit from a statement anything without which the person knows the statement is misleading in a material particular.

29(3)    
A person must not:

(a) intentionally make a report for the purposes of section 15 , or a declaration for the purposes of section 33 , that the person knows is false or misleading in a material particular; or

(b) intentionally omit from such a report or declaration any matter or thing without which the person knows the report or declaration is misleading in a material particular.

29(4)    
A person shall not make a statement, either orally or in writing, or present a document that is, to the person ' s knowledge, false or misleading in a material particular and is capable of:

(aa) misleading an identifying cash dealer in the carrying out of a verification procedure under paragraph 20A(1)(b) ; or

(ab) misleading a bullion seller in the carrying out of a verification procedure under paragraph 24C(2)(a) or (b) ; or

(a) being used for the purposes of inducing a financial institution to enter a transaction or a class of transactions in the institution ' s exemption register; or

(b) causing a cash dealer to make a report of a cash transaction, or of an international funds transfer instruction, that is false or misleading in a material particular; or

(c) causing a carrier not to make a report under section 15 .

29(5)    

A person who contravenes subsection (1), (2), (2A), (3) or (4) commits an offence against this subsection punishable, upon conviction, by imprisonment for not more than 5 years.

Note:

Subsection 4B(2) of the Crimes Act 1914 allows a court to impose in respect of an offence an appropriate fine instead of, or in addition to, a term of imprisonment. The maximum fine that a court can impose on an individual is worked out by multiplying the maximum term of imprisonment (in months) by 5, and then multiplying the resulting number by the amount of a penalty unit. The amount of a penalty unit is stated in section 4AA of that Act. If a body corporate is convicted of an offence, subsection 4B(3) of that Act allows a court to impose a fine that is not greater than 5 times the maximum fine that could be imposed by the court on an individual convicted of the same offence.