Cap. 331 Art. 51Offences and administrative sanctions.

(1) Any person who contravenes or fails to comply with any of the provisions of this Act, or contravenes or fails to comply with any authorisation, registration, condition, obligation, requirement, directive or order made or given under any of the provisions of this Act, shall be guilty of an offence.

(2) Any person who for the purposes of, or pursuant to, any of the provisions of this Act or of any rules or regulations made thereunder, or any condition, obligation, requirement, directive or order made or given as aforesaid, furnishes information or makes a statement or declaration which he knows to be inaccurate, false or misleading in any material respect, or recklessly furnishes information or makes a statement which is inaccurate, false or misleading in any material respect, shall be guilty of an offence.

(3) Any person who with intent to avoid detection of the commission of an offence under this Act, removes, destroys, conceals or fraudulently alters any book, document or other paper, shall be guilty of an offence.

(4) Any person who intentionally obstructs a person exercising rights conferred by this Act shall be guilty of an offence.

(5) Any person who acts or purports to act as a trustee in Malta without being authorised or registered to do so by the Authority, when so required in terms of this Act, shall be guilty of an offence.

(6) Any person who is guilty of an offence under subarticles (1), (2), (3), (4) and (5) and, saving any higher punishment which may be provided under any other law, shall be liable, on conviction, to a fine (multa) not exceeding four hundred and sixty-six thousand euro (€466,000) or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding four years, or to both such fine and imprisonment.

(7) (a) Without prejudice to any other powers assigned to the Authority in terms of this Act, where a trustee, or a director of a trustee company or any other person entrusted with the management and administration thereof, or any other person having obligations with respect to the trustee, contravenes or fails to comply with any of the conditions imposed in an authorisation issued under article 43, or the conditions imposed in article 43A, or the conditions imposed by the Authority upon registration in accordance with article 43B, and, or where the Authority is satisfied that the trustee’s or the person’s conduct amounts to a breach of any provisions of the Act, regulations or rules issued thereunder, or of any directive, obligations or other requirement made or given by the Authority, including failure to cooperate in an investigation, the Authority may by notice in writing and without recourse to a court hearing, impose an administrative penalty which may not exceed one hundred and fifty thousand euro (€150,000) for each infringement or failure to comply, as the case may be.

(b) Administrative penalties or other measures that may be imposed by the Authority on a trustee or any of the persons referred to in paragraph (a) as may be specified, may be imposed in the form of a fixed penalty, a daily penalty, or both.

(c) The imposition by the Authority of an administrative penalty in terms of this sub-article shall be without prejudice to any other consequence of the act or omission of the offender under civil or criminal law: Provided that in all cases where the Authority imposes an administrative penalty in respect of anything done or omitted to be done by any person and such act or omission also constitutes a criminal offence, no proceedings may be taken or continued against the said person in respect of such criminal offence.

(d) The provisions of article 16(8) of the Malta Financial Services Authority Ac shall apply to mutatis mutandis any administrative or disciplinary sanction or measure, of whatever type, including administrative penalties, reprimands or warnings, imposed or decided by the Authority under this Act, and any regulations or rules made thereunder.

(8) A breach or non-observance by any person of any provision of this Act relating to the authorisation of such person to act as a trustee or otherwise shall not in any manner prejudice the validity or enforceability of a trust or affect the duties and responsibilities of such person in terms of this Act.

RULES