Section 15: Offences

15. Offences (1) Any person, being a person employed in the execution of a duty under this Act, who— (a) deserts his duty, or wilfully makes a false declaration, statement or return in the performance of his duty, or compiles for issue any false statistics or information; (b) in the pretended performance of his duty, obtains, or seeks to obtain, information that the person is not duly authorised to obtain; S38 – 9 [Issue 4] Statistics Act (c) by virtue of his employment, becomes possessed of any information which might exert an influence upon, or affect the market value of, any share, interest, product or article, and, before such information is made public, directly or indirectly uses such information for personal gain; (d) without lawful authority, publishes or communicates to any person otherwise than in the ordinary course of such employment, any information acquired by him in the course of his employment; or (e) asks, receives or takes, in respect of, or in connection with, his employment under this Act from any person, other than a public officer duly authorised to grant it, any payment or reward, shall commit an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding 50,000 rupees and to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year. (2) Any person, being in possession of any information which to his knowledge has been disclosed in contravention of this Act, who publishes or communicates such information to any other person shall commit an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding 50,000 rupees and to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year. (3) Any person who— (a) hinders or obstructs an authorised officer in the execution of his powers under this Act; (b) refuses or neglects— (i) to fill up and supply the particulars required in a return, form or other document, lawfully left with or sent to him; or (ii) to answer a question or inquiry under this Act; (c) knowingly makes in any return, form or other document filled up or supplied under this Act, in an answer to a question or inquiry under this Act, a statement which is untrue in any material particular; (d) without lawful authority, destroys, defaces or mutilates a return, form or other document containing particulars collected under this Act; (e) not being an authorised officer, assumes the quality of, or represents himself to be, an authorised officer, with intent to— (i) obtain admission on any premises which he is not entitled to enter; or (ii) do, or procure to be done, anything which he is not entitled to do or procure to be done; (f) refuses without reasonable cause to grant access to records and documents in accordance with section 14; or (g) contravenes this Act, [Issue 4] S38 – 10 Revised Laws of Mauritius shall commit an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding 20,000 rupees and to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, and in the case of a continuing offence, to a fine not exceeding 1,000 rupees for every day during which the offence continues.