Australian Capital Territory Current Acts

CRIMINAL CODE 2002 - SECT 723

    (1)     A person commits an offence if—

        (a)     the person makes a sworn or unsworn statement in a legal proceeding before a court; and

        (b)     the statement is false; and

        (c)     the person is reckless about whether the statement is false.

Maximum penalty: 100 penalty units, imprisonment for 1 year or both.

    (2)     A person commits an offence if—

        (a)     the person makes a sworn or unsworn statement in a legal proceeding before an entity that is not a court; and

        (b)     the statement is false or misleading; and

        (c)     the person is reckless about whether the statement is false or misleading.

Maximum penalty: 100 penalty units, imprisonment for 1 year or both.

    (3)     Subsection (2) (b) and (c) does not apply if the statement is not false or misleading in a material particular.

    (4)     Subsections (1) and (2) do not apply in relation to an unsworn statement if, before the statement was made, the entity did not take reasonable steps to tell the person making the statement about the existence of the offence against the subsection.

    (5)     For subsection (4), it is sufficient if the following form of words is used:

‘Making false or misleading statements is a serious offence'.

    (6)     A person commits an offence if—

        (a)     the person files or gives a sworn document in a legal proceeding; and

        (b)     the document contains false or misleading information; and

        (c)     the person is reckless about whether the document contains false or misleading information.

Maximum penalty: 100 penalty units, imprisonment for 1 year or both.

    (7)     Subsection (6) does not apply to—

        (a)     a lawyer or person assisting a lawyer who—

              (i)     files or gives the document on instructions from a client; and

              (ii)     does not know the document contains false or misleading information; or

        (b)     a person involved in the legal proceeding as a law enforcement officer, lawyer, or party (or as a person assisting any of them) who files or gives the document for a legitimate forensic purpose; or

        (c)     a person who, when filing or giving the document, discloses that it contains or may contain false or misleading information.

    (8)     Also, subsection (6) (b) and (c) does not apply if the information is not false or misleading in a material particular.

    (9)     In this section:

"file" includes lodge for filing.

"legitimate forensic purpose"—see section 705  (6).

"unsworn statement" means a statement that is not made or verified on oath.

Note     Sworn statement is defined in s 700.