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Page
322
of
554
St. Ann Municipal Corporation Office of the Contractor General November 2017
Instructively,
pursuant to Section 18(2)(b) of the Contractor General Act and Section 4(2) of the Perjury
Act, hearings conducted by the Contractor General in the conduct of investigations of matters under its
jurisdiction are considered judicial proceedings.
Further and having regard to the utterance of Exhibits ‘JM1’ and ‘JM2’ by Mrs. Joan McDonald, Section
3 of the Forgery Act defines “forgery” as “
the making of a false document in order that it may be used as
genuine…and forgery with intent to defraud or deceive, as the case may be, is punishable as in this Act
provided
.”
According to the referenced Act, a document is false where, any
“…
whole or any material part thereof purports to be made
by, or on behalf or on account of a person who did not make
it nor authorize its making;
or if, though made by
, or on
behalf or on account of,
the person by whom or by whose
authority it purports to have been made
, the time or place of
making, where either is material, or, in the case of a
document identified by number or mark, the number or any
distinguishing mark identifying the document, is falsely
stated therein;
”
Having regard to the common law concerning fraud by false representation, the offence is committed
when the representation is made. “
The representation
must be untrue or misleading.
There is no express
requirement of materiality in the respect in which it is untrue or misleading, either objectively or
subjectively to the defendant. Thus, a person who, intending to make a gain, knowingly makes a
representation which is only peripherally false or misleading will be caught if and only if he is
dishonest”
.
145
145
Archbold Criminal Pleading, Evidence and Practice 2013, pg. 2214.