49Production orders

49 Production orders

(1)  In this section bankers books means any accounting records used in the ordinary business of banking, including ledgers, day-books, cash-books and account books.

(2)  If a police officer has reasonable grounds for suspecting that –

(a) a person has committed a serious offence and that that person or any other person has possession or control of a property-tracking document in relation to the offence; or

(b) a person has possession or control of a property-tracking document in relation to a serious offence for which that person or any other person has been convicted –

the police officer may –

(c) lay before a magistrate information on oath setting out those grounds; and

(d) apply to the magistrate for an order under subsection (5) against the person suspected of having possession or control of the document.

(3)  If a police officer who applies for an order under this section in respect of an offence includes in the information under subsection (1) information on oath that the police officer has reasonable grounds to believe that –

(a) the person who is believed to have committed the offence or who was convicted of the offence derived a commercial or other benefit, directly or indirectly, from the commission of the offence; and

(b) property specified in the information is subject to the effective control of that person –

the magistrate may treat any document relevant to identifying, locating or quantifying that property as a property-tracking document in relation to the offence for the purposes of this section.

(4)  A magistrate may have regard to the matters referred to in section 8 (2) in determining whether to treat a document as a property-tracking document in relation to an offence.

(5)  If an application is made under subsection (2) for an order against a person, the magistrate may, subject to subsections (6) , (7) , (8) and , make an order that the person –