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Co-operatives Act, 2005 (Act No. 14 of 2005)

Chapter 12B : Co-operatives Tribunal

91X. Summons

 

(1) At any time during an investigation, the Tribunal or the Commission, as the case may be, may issue a summons to any person who is believed to be able to furnish any information on the subject of the investigation or to have possession or control of any book, document or other object that has a bearing on that subject, to—
(a) appear before the Tribunal, Commission, an inspector or investigator, to be questioned at a time and place specified in the summons; or
(b) deliver or produce to the Tribunal, Commission, an inspector or investigator, any book, document or other object referred to in paragraph (a), at a time and place specified in the summons.

 

(2) A summons contemplated in subsection (1)—
(a) must be signed by the chairperson of the Tribunal or Commission, as the case may be, or by an employee of the Tribunal or Commission designated in writing by the chairperson concerned; and
(b) may be served in the same manner as a subpoena in a criminal case issued by a Magistrates’ Court.

 

(3) An inspector or investigator before whom a person is summoned to appear or to whom a person is required to deliver any book, document or other object, may—
(a) interrogate and administer an oath to, or accept an affirmation from, the person named in the summons; and
(b) retain any such book, document or other object for examination, for a period not exceeding two months or such longer period as the Tribunal or Commission, on good cause shown, may allow.

 

(4) A person questioned by the Tribunal, Commission, an inspector or investigator conducting an investigation must answer each question truthfully and to the best of that person’s ability, but—
(a) a person is not obliged to answer any question if the answer is self-incriminating; and
(b) the person asking the questions must inform that person of the right set out in paragraph (a).

 

(5) No self-incriminating answer given or statement made by any person to the Tribunal, Commission, an inspector or investigator exercising powers in terms of this Act will be admissible as evidence in criminal proceedings against that person instituted in any court, except in criminal proceedings for perjury or in which that person is tried for an offence contemplated in section 92(2)(a) and only to the extent that the answer or statement is relevant to the offence.

 

[Section 91X inserted by section 66 of Notice No. 558, GG 36729, dated 5 August 2013]

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