Witnesses and documents: offences.

1 Subject to subsection (9) of section 44, any person to whom a notice under subsection (7) of that section has been given who— a refuses or fails to attend proceedings as required by the notice; b refuses or fails, when attending proceedings as required by the notice, to answer any question relating to the matters specified in the notice; c deliberately alters, suppresses, conceals or destroys any document which he is required to produce by the notice; or d refuses or fails to produce any such document, is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding three months. 2 It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under subsection (1)(a), (b) or (d) to prove that he had a reasonable excuse for the refusal or failure. 3 Where an offence under this section which has been 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 a director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate; or b any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, he, as well as the body corporate, is guilty of that offence and liable to be proceeded against accordingly. 4 Proceedings for an offence under this section shall not be taken without the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland. 5 For the purposes of section 44 and this section, a person shall be taken to comply with a requirement to produce a document if he produces a copy of, or an extract of the relevant part of, the document.