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Obtaining of evidence outside State for use in State.
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52.—(1) Where on an application made in accordance with subsection (2) of this section it appears to a judge of any court—
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(a) that an offence has been committed or that there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that an offence has been committed, and
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(b) that proceedings in respect of the offence have been instituted or that the offence is being investigated,
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he may issue a letter (“a letter of request”) requesting assistance in obtaining outside the State such evidence as is specified in the letter for use in the proceedings or investigation.
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(2) An application under subsection (1) of this section may be made by the Director of Public Prosecutions or, if proceedings have been instituted, by a person charged in those proceedings.
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(3) Subject to subsection (4) of this section, a letter of request shall be sent to the Minister for transmission either—
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(a) to a court or tribunal specified in the letter and exercising jurisdiction in the place where the evidence is to be obtained, or
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(b) to any authority recognised by the government of the country or territory in question as the appropriate authority for receiving requests for assistance of the kind to which this section applies.
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(4) In cases of urgency a letter of request may be sent direct to such a court or tribunal as is mentioned in subsection (3) (a) of this section.
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(5) In this section “evidence” includes documents and other articles.
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(6) Evidence obtained by virtue of a letter of request shall not without the consent of such an authority as is mentioned in subsection (3) (b) of this section be used for any purpose other than specified in the letter; and when any document or other article obtained pursuant to a letter of request is no longer required for that purpose (or for any other purpose for which such consent has been obtained), it shall be returned to such an authority unless that authority indicates that the document or article need not be returned.
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(7) A statement of evidence of a witness taken in compliance with a letter of request, and certified by or on behalf of the court, tribunal or authority by which it was taken to be a true and accurate statement of the evidence so taken shall be admissible in the proceedings concerned as evidence of any fact stated therein of which evidence would be admissible in those proceedings.
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(8) A document purporting to be a certificate of a court, tribunal or authority under subsection (7) of this section and to be signed by or on behalf of the court, tribunal or authority shall be deemed, for the purposes of this section, to be such a certificate and to be so signed unless the contrary is shown.
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(9) Where a document is admissible in evidence under this section, any document which purports to be a translation of that document shall be admissible as evidence of the translation if it is certified as correct by a person competent to do so; and a document purporting to be a certificate under this subsection shall be deemed to be such a certificate, and to be signed by the person purporting to have signed it, unless the contrary is shown.
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(10) In considering whether a statement contained in evidence taken pursuant to a letter of request should be excluded in the exercise of the court's discretion to exclude evidence otherwise admissible the court shall have regard—
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(a) to whether it was possible to challenge the statement by questioning the person who made it, and
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(b) if the statement was taken in proceedings in the country or territory in question, to whether the law of that country or territory allowed the parties to the proceedings to be legally represented when the evidence was being taken.
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