4
5
Witnesses may be examined on oath.
Power to issue
attendance.
(2) In every summons issued to any person under subsection (1) there shall be stated the name of that person and the time when and the place where he is required to attend and the particular documents (if any) he is required to produce, and the summons shall be served on him either by delivering to him a copy thereof or by leaving a copy thereof at his usual or last known place of abode in Hong Kong with some adult person.
(3) A summons issued under this section may be served by an officer of the Council or by a police officer or any public officer.
11. (1) The Council or a committee may require that any facts, matters and things relating to the subject of inquiry before the Council or such committee be verified or otherwise ascertained by the oral examination of witnesses, and may cause any such witnesses to be examined upon oath.
(2) An oath required to be taken under this section may be administered by the Clerk or by any other person appointed by the Council for that purpose or, in the case of a witness before a committee, by the chairman of the committee or by the member presiding in the absence of the chairman.
12. (1) Where a person to whom a summons is issued under section 10 does not warrant to compel attend before the Council or the committee at the time and place stated therein, the President may, if satisfied that the summons has been duly served or that such person has wilfully avoided service, direct the Clerk to issue a warrant in the prescribed form to apprehend him and bring him, at a time and place stated in the warrant, before the Council or committee, as the case may be.
Objection to
answer question
or produce papers.
(2) Where a warrant is issued under this section, the President may, by ordering an appropriate endorsement on the warrant, direct that the person named in the warrant be brought before a magistrate after arrest and released on entering into such recognizance for his appearance before the Council or committee as may be specified in the endorsement.
(3) A warrant issued under this section shall be executed by a police officer. (4) A magistrate may, when a person is brought before him under subsec- tion (2), release that person upon his entering into such recognizance as may be specified in the endorsement on the warrant.
(5) Every warrant and every endorsement on such warrant purporting to bear the signature of the Clerk under this section shall be deemed, unless the contrary is proved, to have been issued or made under the direction or order of the President under this section.
(6) The Governor may, by order in the Gazette, prescribe a form of warrant for the purposes of this section.
13. (1) Subject to section 14, where any person lawfully ordered to attend to give evidence or to produce any paper, book, record or document before the Council refuses to answer any question that may be put to him or to produce any such paper, book, record or document on the ground that the same is of a private nature and does not affect the subject of inquiry, the President may (and shall if such question or the production of such paper, book, record or document is not relevant) excuse the answering of such question or the production of such paper, book, record or document, or may order the answering or production thereof.
(2) Subject to section 14, where any person lawfully ordered to attend to give evidence or to produce any paper, book, record or document before any committee refuses to answer any question that may be put to him or to produce any such paper, book, record or document on the ground that the same is of a private nature and does not affect the subject of inquiry, the chairman of the committee may report such refusal to the President with the reasons therefor; and the President may (and shall if such question or the production of such paper, book, record or document is not relevant) thereupon excuse the answering of such question or the production of such paper, book, record or document or may order the answering or production thereof.
14. (1) Every person lawfully ordered to attend to give evidence or to produce Privileges of any paper, book, record or document before the Council or a committee shall, subject witnesses. to section 16, be entitled, in respect of such evidence or the disclosure of any com- munication or the production of any such paper, book, record or document, to the same right or privilege as before a court of law.
(2) No person, other than a public officer acting with the consent of the Governor, shall before the Council or a committee-
(a) give any evidence; or
(b) produce any paper, book, record or document, relating to the correspondence concerning―
(i) any naval, military or air force matter or of any other matter relating to the
security of Hong Kong; or
(ii) the responsibilities of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom otherwise than with respect to the administration of Hong Kong by its Government,
nor shall secondary evidence be received by or produced before the Council or a committee of the contents of any such paper, book, record or document.
15. Where at any time any question arises in the Council or a committee in Determination of regard to-
questions relating to evidence and (a) the right or power of the Council or a committee to hear, admit or receive production of
oral evidence; or
(b) the right or power of the Council or a committee to peruse or examine any paper, book, record or document or to order, direct or call upon any person to produce any paper, book, record or document before the Council or committee; or
(c) the right or privilege of any person (including a member of the Council or committee) to refuse to produce any paper, book, record or document or to lay any paper, book, record or document before the Council or committee, that question may, subject to this Ordinance and except in so far as express provision is made therein for the determination of that question, be determined in accordance with the usage and practice of the Council which applied prior to the commencement of this Ordinance or applies thereafter by virtue of any resolution of the Council.
16. (1) In any proceedings in the Council or a committee, any person lawfully ordered to attend to give evidence or to produce any paper, book, record or docu- ment before the Council or committee shall not, unless excused under section 13, be excused-
(a) from answering any relevant question put to that person in the proceedings
or producing any such paper, book, record or document; or
(b) from complying with any order made in or in connexion with the proceedings, on the ground that to do so may tend to expose that person, or the wife or husband of that person, to proceedings for an offence or for the recovery of a penalty.
(2) Subject to subsection (3), no statement or admission made by a person- (a) in answering a question put to him in any proceedings to which subsection
(1) applies; or
(b) in complying with any order made in any such proceedings,
shall, in proceedings for any offence or for the recovery of any penalty, be admissible in evidence against that person or (unless they married after the making of the statement or admission) against the wife or husband of that person.
(3) Nothing in subsection (2) shall render any statement or admission made by a person as there mentioned inadmissible in evidence against that person in proceed- ings for an offence under section 32 (which relates to false statements on oath made otherwise than in a judicial proceeding) or section 36 (which relates to false statutory declarations and other false statements without oath) of the Crimes Ordinance.
documents before the Council or committee.
Limitation on privilege against self or spouse.
incrimination of
(Cap. 200.)
j4