A BILL
To
Enclosure No. 4
Amend the Evidence Ordinance.
Enacted by the Governor of Hong Kong, with the advice and consent
of the Legislative Council thereof.
1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Evidence (Amendment) Short title. Ordinance 1986.
2.
Section 19B of the principal Ordinance is amended—
(a) by being renumbered as subsection (1);
(b) by inserting after subsection (1) the following-
3.
"(2) The power conferred by subsection (1) may be exercised in respect of any body formed or established outside Hong Kong notwithstanding that it has ceased to carry on the business of banking or is being or has been wound up or dissolved.".
Amendment of section 19B. (Cap. 8.)
Section 20(5) of the principal Ordinance is amended in paragraph (a) Amendment of by deleting "19B" and substituting the following-
section 20.
"19B(1)".
4. The principal Ordinance is amended by adding after section 20 the Addition of new following
"Application of section 20 to banks that have ceased business.
20A. (1) Section 20 shall apply to a copy of an entry or matter recorded in a record used in the ordinary course of business of a former bank which is tendered in evidence in criminal proceedings as it applies to a copy of an entry or matter recorded in a banker's record, but with the following modifications—
(a) subsection (1)(a)(ii) thereof shall be construed as if for "the bank" there were substituted "any person duly authorized in that behalf or otherwise responsible for administering the affairs of the former bank"; and
(b) a reference therein to an officer of a bank shall in relation to the former bank be construed as a reference to any person who is, or is an officer of, a person responsible for administering the affairs of the former bank.
(2) Section 20 shall apply to a copy of an entry or matter recorded in a record used in the ordinary course of business of a body designated by the Financial Secretary under section 19B(2) for the purposes of criminal proceedings which is tendered in evidence in those criminal proceedings as it applies to a copy of an entry or matter recorded in a banker's record, but with the following modifications-
(a) a reference therein to a bank shall be construed as a re- ference to any person responsible for administering the affairs of that body;
(b) a reference therein to an officer of a bank shall be construed as a reference to any person who is, or is an officer of, a person responsible for administering the affairs of that body.
section 20A.