PART III - FORMS OF MUTUAL ASSISTANCE

6. Procedure for an evidence-gathering order or a search warrant

(1) Notwithstanding any other enactment, where the Central Authority grants a request by a foreign State, or an international criminal tribunal, to obtain evidence or a search warrant in Mauritius, the Central Authority may apply to a Judge in Chambers for -

(a) an evidence-gathering order ; or
(b) a search warrant for the search of a person or premises, and removal or seizure of any document or article.

PART III - FORMS OF MUTUAL ASSISTANCE

6. Procedure for an evidence-gathering order or a search warrant

(8) (a) Where a person refuses to answer a question or to produce a document or article pursuant to subsection (7)(b) or (c), the Central Authority shall notify the foreign State and request the foreign State to provide a written statement on whether the person’s refusal was well-founded under the law of the foreign State.

(b) A written statement received by the Central Authority from the foreign State in response to a request under paragraph (a) shall be admissible before the Judge in Chambers and, for the purposes of this section, be conclusive evidence that the person’s refusal is, or is not, well-founded under the law of that state.

(c) Any person who, without reasonable excuse, refuses to comply with an order of a Judge in Chambers made under this section or who, having refused to answer a question or to produce a document or article on a ground specified in subsection (7), continues to refuse notwithstanding the admission into evidence of a statement under paragraph (b) to the effect that the refusal is not well-founded, shall be in contempt of court.