65.— (1) A charity trustee or agent of a charitable organisation shall—

(a) produce to an inspector all books, documents and other records of or relating to the charitable organisation that are in his or her possession, under his or her control or within his or her procurement,

(b) attend before an inspector, and

(c) give to an inspector all assistance in connection with the investigation which he or she is reasonably capable of giving,

when required to so do by an inspector.

(2) If an inspector considers that a person (other than a charity trustee or agent of a charitable organisation) is or may be in possession of information concerning its affairs, he or she may require that person to—

(a) produce to him or her any books, documents or other records in his or her possession, under his or her control or within his or her procurement relating to the charitable organisation,

(b) attend before him or her, and

(c) give to him or her all such other assistance in connection with the investigation as he or she is reasonably capable of giving.

(3) If an inspector has reasonable grounds for believing that a charity trustee of a charitable organisation whose affairs the inspector is investigating maintains or has maintained a bank account (howsoever described), whether alone or jointly with another person and whether in the State or elsewhere, into or out of which there has been paid money that is connected with any act or omission by that charity trustee constituting misconduct (whether fraudulent or not) in respect of that charitable organisation, the inspector may require the charity trustee to produce to him or her all documents in the charity trustee's possession, under his or her control or within his or her procurement, relating to that bank account.

(4) An inspector may examine on oath a charity trustee, member of staff or agent of the charitable organisation, or a person to whom subsection (2) applies, in relation to the affairs of the charitable organisation, and may administer an oath accordingly.

(5) A person who contravenes this section or who fails to comply with a requirement under this section shall be guilty of an offence.

(6) In this section—

“agent” includes, in relation to a charitable organisation, a banker, solicitor or auditor to the charitable organisation, and any person who was but is no longer an agent to the charitable organisation;

“bank account” includes an account with any person exempt by virtue of section 7(4) of the Central Bank Act 1971 from the requirement of holding a licence under section 9 of that Act;

“charity trustee” includes, in relation to a charitable organisation, a person who was, but is no longer, a charity trustee of the charitable organisation.