Privileged communica- tions.
(Cap. 112)
Cost of in- vestigation.
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subsection (6), require a prescribed person to give all assistance in connexion with prosecution that he is reasonably able to give.
(8) If from a report under this section it appears to the Com- mission or to the Attorney General that proceedings ought in the public interest to be brought by a prescribed person for the recovery of damages in respect of fraud, misfeasance, or other misconduct in connexion with the affairs of the prescribed person or for the recovery of property of the prescribed person, either the Commission or the Attorney General may cause proceedings to be instituted accordingly in the name of the prescribed person.
131. (1) An inspector shall not require disclosure by a solicitor or counsel of any privileged communication, whether oral or written, made to or by him in that capacity, except as regards the name and address of his client.
(2) Nothing in sections 127 to 130 shall be construed as affecting section 4 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance.
132. (1) Subject to this section, the expenses of and inci- dental to an investigation by an inspector (including the expenses incurred and payable by the Commission in any proceedings brought by it in the name of a prescribed person) shall be paid out of money provided by the Legislative Council.
(2) An application referred to in subsection (3) may be made to a court by or on behalf of-
(u) the Commission or the Attorney General in the course of proceedings in that court instituted in the name of a prescribed person under section 130(8); or
(b) the Attorney General on, or within 14 days after, a con- viction by the court in proceedings certified by the Attorney General, for the purposes of the application, to have been instituted as a result of an investigation by an inspector;
and the court may make such order with respect to the applica- tion and its subject matter as it thinks fit.
(3) The application that may be made under subsection (2) is an application for one or more of the following orders-
(a) that a specified person pay the whole, or a specified part of, the expenses of and incidental to, the investiga- tion that led to the proceedingst
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(b) where expenses have been paid under subsection (1). that a specified person reimburse the Commission to the extent of the payment;
(c) that a specified person reimburse the Commission in respect of the remuneration of any person employed by the Commission in connexion with the investigation. (4) If no proccedings under section 130(6) are commenced against a prescribed person, or, where the prescribed person is a corporation, against any director of the corporation, within 6 months after the completion of an investigation by an inspector. the prescribed person may apply to a court for an order for the payment of costs incurred by him in connexion with the investiga. tion; and the court may, if it finds that the investigation was no! warranted, order the Commission to pay to the prescribed person such sum, not exceeding the amount of costs actually incurred by the prescribed person in respect of the investigation, as it thinks just.
(5) A copy of an application made under subsection (4) shall be served on the Commission and the Commission shall be entitled to be heard at the proceedings to determine the application.
133. (1) A person who-
Concealing. (a) conceals, destroys, mutilates, or alters a document relat- books relat-
ctc., of ing to a matter which is the subject of an investigation ing to by an inspector;
securities.
(b) sends, causes to be sent, or conspires with another person to send, out of Hong Kong any such document:
or
(c) being a prescribed person to whom notice has been
given under section 127(3), leaves Hong Kong,
shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine of $20,000 and to imprisonment for 2 years.
(2) It shall be a defence to a prosecution under subsection (1) to prove that the person charged did not act with intent to defeat the purposes of section 127 or to delay or obstruct the carrying out of an investigation under that section.
134, (1) Where an investigation is being made under section
Commission 127 and it appears to the Commission that facts concerning may make securities to which the investigation relates cannot be ascertained certain because a prescribed person referred to in that section has failed or refused to comply with a requirement of an inspector under
orders.