Electoral Act, 1997
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Offences and penalties (Part IV). |
25.—(1) The appropriate officer of a political party or the person deemed to have been appointed as the appropriate officer under section 71 , a member of either House of the Oireachtas, a representative in the European Parliament or a candidate at a Dáil, Seanad or European election who was not elected at the election shall be guilty of an offence if he or she— | |
(a) fails to notify the Public Offices Commission in accordance with section 23 of the receipt of a donation acceptance of which is prohibited by that section, | ||
(b) fails to remit to the Public Offices Commission in accordance with the said section 23 such a donation or the value thereof, | ||
(c) fails to furnish the donation statement and make the statutory declaration required by section 24 on or before the relevant specified date, or | ||
(d) knowingly furnishes a donation statement or makes a statutory declaration which is false or misleading in any material respect. | ||
(2) Where a person is guilty of an offence under this section— | ||
(a) the person shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,000, | ||
(b) the person shall be liable, where the offence is an offence referred to in subsection (1)(d), on conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding £20,000 or, at the discretion of the court, to imprisonment for a period not exceeding 3 years or to both such fine and such imprisonment, and | ||
(c) where the conviction relates to failure to furnish a donation statement under section 24 , the person shall be guilty of a further offence on every day on which the failure continues after such conviction and for each such offence the person shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £100. | ||
(3) Proceedings for an offence under this Part shall not be instituted except by or with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions. |