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Deposit Takers Act 2023

Crisis management and resolution - Conduct of resolution - Offences

346: Offence to destroy, alter, or conceal records

You could also call this:

"It's against the law to hide or mess with important records about banks and deposit takers."

Illustration for Deposit Takers Act 2023

If you destroy, alter, or conceal information about a licensed deposit taker, you commit an offence. This is because you are trying to stop the law from working properly. You also commit an offence if you do not answer questions about this information, or if you give false answers.

If you are found guilty, you could go to prison for up to one year or be fined up to $100,000, or both. If you are not an individual, you could be fined up to $2,500,000.

If you are charged with this offence and it is proved that you destroyed or concealed information, it will be assumed that you did so on purpose, unless you can prove otherwise, as stated in the Deposit Takers Act 2023, similar to the 1989 No 157 s 151.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS536611.

Topics:
Money and consumer rights > Banking and loansBusiness > Industry rulesCrime and justice > Criminal law
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"It's against the law to take property from a troubled bank without permission"

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Part 7Crisis management and resolution
Conduct of resolution: Offences

346Offence to destroy, alter, or conceal records

  1. A person commits an offence against this Act if,—

  2. with intent to defeat the purposes of this Part, they destroy, alter, or conceal any information of, or relating to, a licensed deposit taker in resolution; or
    1. without reasonable excuse, they fail or refuse to answer, to the best of their knowledge and ability, any question that they are asked by or on behalf of the Bank or the resolution manager in relation to any such information or any property; or
      1. they wilfully give a false or misleading answer to that question.

        1. A person who commits an offence under subsection (1) is liable on conviction,—

        2. in the case of an individual, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 1 year or to a fine not exceeding $100,000 (or both):
          1. in any other case, to a fine not exceeding $2,500,000.

            1. If, in any prosecution for an offence under this section, it is proved that the person charged with the offence destroyed, altered, or concealed any information of the kind referred to in subsection (1), it must be presumed, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, that the person did so with intent to defeat the purposes of this Part.

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