78Misuse of information—dealing with land

78 Misuse of information—dealing with land

78 Misuse of information—dealing with land

(1) This section applies if—

(a) because of an association with the Authority, a person has knowledge of specific information relating to proposals made, or to be made, by the Authority in relation to the acquisition, development or disposal of land, and

(b) the information is not generally known but, if generally known, might reasonably be expected to affect materially the market price of the land.

(2) The person contravenes this section if the person—

(a) deals, directly or indirectly, in the land or any other land for the purpose of gaining an advantage for the person by the use of the information, or

(b) divulges the information for the purpose of enabling another person to gain an advantage by using the information to deal, directly or indirectly, in the land or any other land.

Maximum penalty—

(a) for an individual—40 penalty units, or

(b) otherwise—200 penalty units.

(3) If a contravention of this section occurs and an advantage referred to in subsection (2) is gained from a dealing in land to which the contravention relates, a person who gained the advantage is, whether or not any person has been prosecuted for or convicted of an offence in relation to the contravention, liable to another person for the amount of any loss incurred by the other person because of the gaining of the advantage.

(4) If a loss referred to in subsection (3) is incurred because of an advantage gained from a dealing in land, the amount of the loss is the difference between—

(a) the price at which the dealing was effected, and

(b) the price that, in the opinion of the court before which it is sought to recover the amount of the loss, would have been the market price of the land at the time of the dealing if the specific information used to gain the advantage had been generally known at the time.

(5) An action to recover a loss referred to in subsection (3) may not be brought more than 5 years after the dealing in land in relation to which the loss was incurred.

(6) For the purposes of this section and section 79, a person has an association with the Authority if the person—