Charities Act 2009

59.

Obligation to disclose commission of offence to Authority.

59.— (1) Where, in the course of, and by virtue of the carrying out of, his or her duties in relation to a charitable organisation, information comes into the possession of a relevant person that causes him or her to form the opinion that there are reasonable grounds for believing that an offence under the Act of 2001 has been or is being committed, the relevant person shall, as soon as may be, notify the Authority in writing of that opinion and provide the Authority with a report in writing of the particulars of the grounds upon which the opinion was formed.

(2) A relevant person shall be guilty of an offence if he or she—

(a) fails to comply with subsection (1), or

(b) knowingly makes a report under subsection (1) which is false or misleading in any material respect.

(3) In this section “relevant person” means, in relation to a charitable organisation, a person who—

(a) is an auditor of the charitable organisation,

(b) is a charity trustee of the charitable organisation or is, for the time being, carrying out, or duly appointed to carry out, any of the functions of charity trustee of the charitable organisation,

(c) is an investment business firm (within the meaning of the Investment Intermediaries Act 1995), and—

(i) has advised the charitable organisation, or

(ii) has received any payment in relation to the investment of any of the property of the charitable organisation,

or

(d) has been involved in the preparation of the annual report of the charitable organisation.