Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

FINANCIAL TRANSACTION REPORTS ACT 1988 - SECT 29

             (1)  A cash dealer shall not, in communicating information to the AUSTRAC CEO as required under Part II or III:

                     (a)  intentionally make a statement that the cash dealer knows is false or misleading in a material particular; or

                     (b)  intentionally omit from a statement any matter or thing without which the cash dealer knows the statement is misleading in a material particular.

             (2)  A financial institution shall not, in maintaining the institution's exemption register as required under Division 1 of Part II:

                     (a)  intentionally make a statement that the financial institution knows is false or misleading in a material particular; or

                     (b)  intentionally omit from a statement any matter or thing without which the financial institution knows the statement is misleading in a material particular.

          (2A)  A person must not, in communicating information to the AUSTRAC CEO as required under section 15A:

                     (a)  intentionally make a statement that the person knows is false or misleading in a material particular; or

                     (b)  intentionally omit from a statement anything without which the person knows the statement is misleading in a material particular.

             (3)  A person must not:

                     (a)  intentionally make a report for the purposes of section 15, a statement for the purposes of section 18 or a declaration for the purposes of section 33, that the person knows is false or misleading in a material particular; or

                     (b)  intentionally omit from such a report, statement or declaration any matter or thing without which the person knows the report, statement or declaration is misleading in a material particular.

             (4)  A person shall not make a statement, either orally or in writing, or present a document that is, to the person's knowledge, false or misleading in a material particular and is capable of:

                    (aa)  misleading an identifying cash dealer in the carrying out of a verification procedure under paragraph 20A(1)(b); or

                   (ab)  misleading a bullion seller in the carrying out of a verification procedure under paragraph 24C(2)(a) or (b); or

                     (a)  being used for the purposes of inducing a financial institution to enter a transaction or a class of transactions in the institution's exemption register; or

                     (b)  causing a cash dealer to make a report of a cash transaction, or of an international funds transfer instruction, that is false or misleading in a material particular; or

                     (c)  causing a carrier not to make a report under section 15.

             (5)  A person who contravenes subsection (1), (2), (2A), (3) or (4) commits an offence against this subsection punishable, upon conviction, by imprisonment for not more than 5 years.

Note:          Subsection 4B(2) of the Crimes Act 1914 allows a court to impose in respect of an offence an appropriate fine instead of, or in addition to, a term of imprisonment. The maximum fine that a court can impose on an individual is worked out by multiplying the maximum term of imprisonment (in months) by 5, and then multiplying the resulting number by the amount of a penalty unit. The amount of a penalty unit is stated in section 4AA of that Act. If a body corporate is convicted of an offence, subsection 4B(3) of that Act allows a court to impose a fine that is not greater than 5 times the maximum fine that could be imposed by the court on an individual convicted of the same offence.