Hong Kong Ordinances

PREVENTION OF BRIBERY ORDINANCE - SECT 13C

Restriction on publication of information disclosed under section 13B

(Past version on 30/06/1997).

(1) This section applies-

   (a)  to information of the description mentioned in section 13B which has
        been furnished to the Commissioner of Inland Revenue or to any officer
        of the Inland Revenue Department in respect of the liability,
responsibility or obligation of any person ("the person named") under the
Inland Revenue Ordinance ( Cap 112);

   (b)  where that information is disclosed to the Secretary for Justice under
        section 13B;

   (c)  where the Secretary for Justice decides that any of the information so
        disclosed is to be adduced in evidence by the prosecution for the
        purpose of any prosecution of an offence under this Ordinance, not
        being an offence alleged to have been committed by the person named;

   (d)  where a venue for and a date and time of hearing of those proceedings
        has been fixed; and

   (e)  where those proceedings may result in the information being publicly
        revealed.

(2) As soon as practicable after having made a decision of the description
mentioned in subsection (1)(c), and in any case not less than 14 days before
the date referred to in subsection (1)(d), the Secretary for Justice shall
serve notice in writing of that fact on the person who furnished the
information as mentioned in subsection (1)(a) and on the  person named.

(3) A notice under subsection (2) shall be accompanied by a statement in
writing so as to adequately inform the person on whom it is served of-

   (a)  the details of such information disclosed to the Secretary for Justice
        that is to be so adduced;

   (b)  the venue for, date and time of the hearing of those proceedings; and

   (c)  the substance of this section.

(4) Within 14 days after the service on him of a notice under subsection (2),
the person on whom it is served may on notice in writing to the Secretary for
Justice make an application in chambers to the court before whom the
proceedings are to be heard for an order under subsection

(5) and the Secretary for Justice shall be given an opportunity to be heard on
that application.

(5) On application made to it under subsection (4), the court may by order
give directions prohibiting or restricting the publication of any information
so disclosed to the Secretary for Justice which may lead to the identity of
the person named being publicly revealed.

(6) In the making of an order under subsection (5), the court shall in
considering whether or not to make an order, have regard to the views of the
Secretary for Justice on the application, if any, and those of the applicant
and shall consider whether the public interest in the publication of any
information being the subject of the application, without prohibition or
restriction, outweighs-

   (a)  the privacy and confidentiality of that information;

   (b)  any prejudice to the person named which might result from the
        publication of that information without prohibition or restriction;
        and

   (c)  the public interest in preserving secrecy with regard to matters
        relating to the affairs of persons that may come to the knowledge of
        the Commissioner of Inland Revenue or to any officer of the Inland
        Revenue Department in the performance of their duties under the
        Inland  Revenue Ordinance ( Cap 112).

(7) If in the course of any prosecution of an offence under this Ordinance
after the making of an order under subsection (5) the court by whom the order
was made is satisfied, after giving the person in favour of whom the order was
made an opportunity to be heard, that the effect of that order is to impose a
substantial and unreasonable prohibition or restriction upon the reporting of
those proceedings or the reporting of that prosecution and that,
notwithstanding the matters referred to in subsection (6)(a), (b) and (c) and
the views of the person in favour of whom the order was made, if any, it is in
the public interest to remove the prohibition or to relax the restriction, the
court or the judge shall direct that the order shall not apply to such
information in respect of which that order was made as is specified in the
direction.

(8) Any person who publishes or broadcasts information being the subject of an
order under subsection (5), including an order in respect of which a direction
is made under subsection (7), in contravention of that order commits an
offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of $10000 and to imprisonment
for 6 months. (Added 48 of 1996 s. 5. Amended L.N. 362 of 1997)