Part XI
Power of Commissioners to mitigate penalties, etc. 152. The Commissioners may, as they see fit—
- (a) stay, sist or compound any proceedings for an offence or for the condemnation of any thing as being forfeited under the customs and excise Acts; or
- (b) restore, subject to such conditions (if any) as they think proper, any thing forfeited or seized under those Acts; or
- (c) after judgment, mitigate or remit any pecuniary penalty imposed under those Acts; or
- (d) order any person who has been imprisoned to be dis charged before the expiration of his term of imprisonment, being a person imprisoned for any offence under those Acts or in respect of the non-payment of a penalty or other sum adjudged to be paid or awarded in relation to such an offence or in respect of the default of a sufficient distress to satisfy such a sum;
but paragraph (a) above shall not apply to proceedings on indictment in Scotland.
Proof of certain documents. 153.—(1) Any document purporting to be signed either by one or more of the Commissioners, or by their order, or by any other person with their authority, shall, until the contrary is proved, be deemed to have been so signed and to be made and issued by the Commissioners, and may be proved by the production of a copy thereof purporting to be so signed.
(2) Without prejudice to subsection (1) above, the 1868 c. 37.Documentary Evidence Act 1868 shall apply in relation to—
- (a) any document issued by the Commissioners;
- (b) any document issued before 1st April 1909, by the Commissioners of Customs or the Commissioners of Customs and the Commissioners of Inland Revenue jointly;
- (c) any document issued before that date in relation to the revenue of excise by the Commissioners of Inland Revenue,
as it applies in relation to the documents mentioned in that Act.
(3) That Act shall, as applied by subsection (2) above, have effect as if the persons mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (c) of that subsection were included in the first column of the Schedule to that Act, and any of the Commissioners or any secretary or assistant secretary to the Commissioners were specified in the second column of that Schedule in connection with those persons.
