Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006

CHAPTER 13 - OFFENCES  

PART 13-1 - OFFENCES ABOUT FALSE OR MISLEADING STATEMENTS ETC.  

Division 561 - Offences about false or misleading statements etc.  

SECTION 561-5   FALSE INFORMATION ETC.  

561-5(1)    
An officer or employee of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporation commits an offence if:

(a)    the officer or employee makes available or gives information, or authorises or permits the making available or giving of information, to:

(i) a director, auditor or member of the corporation; or

(ii) if the corporation is taken for the purposes of this Act to be controlled by another Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporation - an auditor of the other corporation; and

(b)    the information (whether in documentary or any other form) relates to the affairs of the corporation; and

(c)    the information, to the knowledge of the officer or employee:

(i) is false or misleading in a material particular; or

(ii) has omitted from it a matter or thing the omission of which renders the information misleading in a material respect.

Penalty: 200 penalty units or imprisonment for 5 years, or both.

561-5(2)    
An officer or employee of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporation commits an offence if:

(a)    the officer or employee makes available or gives information, or authorises or permits the making available or giving of information, to:

(i) a director, auditor or member of the corporation; or

(ii) if the corporation is taken for the purposes of this Act to be controlled by another Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporation - an auditor of the other corporation; and

(b)    the information (whether in documentary or any other form) related to the affairs of the corporation; and

(c)    the information:

(i) is false or misleading in a material particular; or

(ii) has omitted from it a matter or thing the omission of which renders the information misleading in a material respect; and

(d)    the officer or employee does not take reasonable steps to ensure that the information:

(i) was not false or misleading in a material particular; and

(ii) did not have omitted from it a matter or thing the omission of which rendered the information misleading in a material respect.

Penalty: 100 penalty units or imprisonment for 2 years, or both.

561-5(3)    
The references in subsections (1) and (2) to a person making available or giving, or authorising or permitting the making available or giving of, information relating to the affairs of a corporation include references to a person making available or giving, or authorising or permitting the making available or giving of, information as to the state of knowledge of that person with respect to the affairs of the corporation.

561-5(4)    
If information is made available or given to a person referred to in subparagraph (1)(a)(i) or (ii) or (2)(a)(i) or (ii) in response to a question asked by that person, the question and the information are to be considered together in determining whether the information was false or misleading.