South Australian Consolidated Acts South Australian Consolidated Acts71—Powers of authorised officers
(1) An authorised
officer—
(a) may,
for the purposes of ascertaining whether the provisions of this Act or a
licence under this Act are being complied with, at any time while premises on
which the holder of a licence conducts any business pursuant to the licence
are open for business or at any other reasonable time; or
(b) may,
where the officer suspects on reasonable grounds that an offence has been, is
being or is about to be committed on any premises or that evidence of an
offence is likely to be found on any premises, at any time,
exercise all or any of the following powers:
(c)
enter or, where necessary, break into the premises, using only such force as
is reasonably necessary for the purpose;
(d)
inspect or search the premises or anything on the premises;
(e)
require any person on the premises to—
(i)
produce any equipment or other items, or any books,
papers or documents, that are in the person's custody or control;
(ii)
answer any questions put by the authorised officer;
(iii)
open any gaming machine on the premises or any part of
such a machine;
(f)
inspect any books, papers or documents produced to him or her and retain them
for so long as is reasonably necessary for the purpose of copying or taking
extracts from any of them;
(g) if
the authorised officer suspects on reasonable grounds that an offence has been
committed, seize and retain anything that he or she believes affords evidence
of the offence;
(h) give
such directions as are reasonably necessary for, or as are incidental to, the
effective exercise of the officer's powers under this section.
(2) An authorised
officer cannot exercise powers under subsection (1)(c) in relation to
premises that are not used in the course of a business carried on pursuant to
a licence under this Act except on the authority of a warrant issued by a
justice.
(3) A justice cannot
issue a warrant under subsection (2) unless satisfied, on information
given on oath—
(a) that
there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that an offence has been, is being
or is about to be committed; and
(b) that
the warrant is reasonably required in the circumstances.
(4) An
authorised officer may, in exercising powers under this section, be
accompanied by such assistants as are reasonably necessary for the purpose.
(5) Where an
authorised officer suspects on reasonable grounds that—
(a) a
gaming machine, an approved game or any gaming equipment is defective or is
not operating correctly; or
(b) that
the computer system by which the operation of gaming machines is monitored is
defective or is not operating correctly,
the authorised officer may give such directions to any licensee or employee of
a licensee as the officer thinks fit for the purpose of ensuring compliance
with this Act or the proper conduct of gaming operations.
(6) If a person
refuses or fails to comply with a direction given under subsection (5),
the authorised officer may himself or herself do such things as are reasonably
necessary to ensure compliance with the direction, including, if the officer
believes it to be the only effective way of ensuring compliance, the seizure
of any gaming machine, gaming machine component or gaming equipment.
(6a) An
authorised officer may—
(a)
require a person who has custody or control of books, papers or documents
relevant to a business conducted under a licence to produce them at a
specified place for inspection at a specified time or within a specified
period; and
(b)
inspect books, papers or documents so produced and retain them for as long as
is reasonably necessary for the purposes of copying or taking extracts from
any of them.
(7) Subject to
subsection (8), a person who—
(a)
without reasonable excuse, hinders or obstructs an authorised officer in the
exercise of powers under this section; or
(b)
fails to answer a question put by an authorised officer to the best of his or
her knowledge, information or belief; or
(c)
fails to comply with any other lawful requirement or direction of an
authorised officer; or
(d) uses
abusive, threatening or insulting language to an authorised officer or a
person assisting an authorised officer; or
(e)
falsely represents, by word or conduct, that he or she is an
authorised officer,
is guilty of an offence.
Maximum penalty: $20 000.
(8) A person is not
required to answer a question, or to produce books, papers or documents, under
this section if—
(a) the
answer to the question or the contents of the books, papers or documents would
tend to incriminate the person of an offence; or
(b) by
answering the question or producing the books, papers or documents the person
would commit a breach of legal professional privilege.
(9) In this
section—
"offence" means an offence against this Act or any other offence arising out
of or committed in connection with the conduct of gaming operations pursuant
to this Act.