Commentary on Sections Part 11: Co-operation Section 445: External investigations
598.Section 445 makes provision for investigative powers to be made available in respect of overseas investigations. These will be provided by Order in Council which will be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House (section 459(4)). The domestic investigation orders and warrants are provided in Part 8; subsection (1) allows these powers to be made available for external investigations and permits the creation of offences which are equivalent to offences created in Part 8 in relation to external investigations. Such offences would include the offence of prejudicing an investigation and the offence of failing to comply with a customer information or disclosure order in respect of an overseas investigation. External investigations are defined at section 447(3) as the overseas equivalents to domestic confiscation, money laundering and civil recovery investigations. Subsection (3) provides that disclosure orders will not be available for external money laundering investigations. Subsection (2) allows for investigation powers corresponding to those in Part 8 to be applied, with any necessary modifications, for use in response to a request from an overseas authority.