Social Welfare Act, 1988

Provisions relating to prosecutions.

20.—(1) Proceedings for an offence under the Principal Act or under regulations made under or applying the provisions of the Principal Act shall not be instituted except by or with the consent of the Minister or by an officer authorised in that behalf by special or general directions of the Minister.

(2) A prosecution for a summary offence under the Principal Act or under regulations made under or applying the provisions of the Principal Act may be brought at the suit of the Minister.

(3) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1) of this section or any provision in any enactment specifying the period within which proceedings may be commenced, a prosecution for a summary offence under the Principal Act or under regulations made under or applying the provisions of the Principal Act may be brought at any time within whichever of the following periods later expires—

(a) the period of six months commencing on the date on which evidence sufficient to justify the institution of that prosecution came into the possession of the Minister, or

(b) the period of two years commencing on the date on which the offence was committed.

(4) For the purposes of subsection (3) of this section, a certificate, sealed with the official seal of the Minister, as to the date on which such evidence as aforesaid came into his possession shall be sufficient evidence thereof until the contrary is shown.

(5) Where in a prosecution for an offence under the Principal Act, or under regulations made under or applying the provisions of the Principal Act, it is shown to the satisfaction of the court—

(a) that an application has been made by a person (in this section referred to as the defendant) for any benefit, assistance, allowance or supplement under Parts II, III, IV or IVA of the Principal Act, and

(b) that as a result of that application any such benefit, assistance, allowance or supplement has been paid to any person (whether or not such benefit, assistance, allowance or supplement was that applied for and whether or not it was paid to the defendant),

the defendant shall be presumed to have given any information contained in the application (or to have caused it to be given on his behalf) and, where such information is false, with full knowledge of such falsity and with intent that it should deceive; but this presumption may be rebutted.

(6) For the purpose of the institution of proceedings under the Principal Act, a certificate, purporting to be given by an officer of the Minister authorised in that behalf by the Minister and to be signed by that officer, certifying the following facts, namely, that a person is an officer of the Minister and that he has been authorised under a special or general direction of the Minister to institute such proceedings, or that the Minister has consented to the institution of such proceedings, shall be sufficient evidence in any legal proceedings of the matters certified in the certificate, until the contrary is shown.

(7) In any proceedings for an offence under Part II, or Chapter 2 of Part III, of the Principal Act or under regulations made under or applying the said provisions, the wife or husband of the person charged with the offence shall, notwithstanding any other enactment, be competent to give evidence, whether for or against that person, but the wife or husband shall not be compellable either to give evidence or, in giving evidence, to disclose any communication made to her or him, as the case may be, during the marriage by that person.

(8) The following provisions are hereby repealed:

(a) in the Principal Act—

(i) section 116,

(ii) section 145,

(iii) section 168,

(iv) subsections (4) and (5) of section 188, and

(v) subsections (4) and (5) of section 231;

(b) in the Act of 1986, section 20.