Penal Law, 5737-1977

A register which, by law, there is authority or an obligation to maintain in order to verify or record ownership of property or to record births, baptisms, marriages, deaths or burials, or a copy of a part of such a register that, by law, must be sent to a public office — anyone who conceals it or removes it from the place of its deposit, with intent to defraud, is liable to five years' imprisonment.

One who conceals a written will with intent to defraud, whether the testator is alive or dead, is liable to five years' imprisonment.

One who conceals, with intent to defraud, a document or part thereof that constitutes evidence of ownership of or a right of ownership in real property, is liable to three years' imprisonment.

One who kills an animal capable of being stolen, with intent to steal its hide or its carcass or any part thereof, is liable as though he had stolen the animal.

One who completely severs a thing that was attached to real property, with intent to steal it, is liable as though he had stolen the thing after it was severed.

One who takes or conceals ores, metal or mineral in a mine or its surroundings, or does any other act with them there, with intent to defraud a person, is liable to three years' imprisonment.

One who wilfully or fraudulently takes or consumes electricity, water or gas to which he is not entitled, or uses them or causes their diversion or waste, is liable to three years' imprisonment.

One who uses a vessel or an aircraft without the permission of its owner or of the person lawfully in possession of it is liable to three years' imprisonment; in this Section —

"vessel" means a craft designed to navigate, excluding a craft propelled by oars only;

"aircraft" means a powered craft or device designed or used for flight through the air.

One who assaults a person for the purpose of robbery is liable to seven years' imprisonment; and if the offence was committed in circumstances as referred to in section 402(b), he is liable to twenty years' imprisonment.

One who demands from a person anything of value with intent to steal it, using threats or force, is liable to five years' imprisonment; if the offence was committed while the offender was carrying a firearm or a cold weapon, he is liable to ten years' imprisonment.

If an offence under sections 406 or 407 was committed while the offender was carrying a firearm or a cold weapon, he is liable to double the punishment prescribed for the offence.

One found in possession of an instrument used for breaking into a building, and who has no reasonable explanation therefor, is liable to three years' imprisonment.

A person found in any of the following circumstances is liable to five years' imprisonment:

A person who wilfully receives, himself or through an agent, any thing, money, security or other property, knowing that it was stolen, extorted, obtained or dealt with by means of a felony, and a person who assumes, himself or through an agent, alone or together with another, control over or dealing in such property, are liable to seven years' imprisonment; however, they may be tried before a court competent to try the perpetrator of the felony and shall be liable to the punishment to which that perpetrator is liable.

A person who receives, himself or through an agent, any thing, money, security or other property, knowing that it was taken, obtained, misappropriated or dealt with by means of a misdemeanour, and a person who assumes, himself or through an agent, alone or together with another, control over or dealing in such property, are liable to the same punishment as the perpetrator of that misdemeanour.

A person who possesses any thing, money, security or other property in respect of which there is reasonable suspicion that it is stolen, and who is unable to satisfy a court that he acquired possession thereof lawfully, is liable to six months' imprisonment.

In this Section —

"vehicle owner" includes a person who lawfully holds a vehicle;

"breaker" and "burglar" — as those terms are defined in section 405, with "building" replaced by "vehicle";

"vehicle" means a vehicle propelled by mechanical power of any kind or towed by a vehicle, and also a machine or installation propelled or towed as aforesaid, including a motorcycle with or without a sidecar or trailer, a three-wheeled motor vehicle, and also a bicycle or tricycle if fitted with an auxiliary engine;

"forgery" and "document" — as defined in section 414 of the Law.

A person who drives, uses or moves from place to place a vehicle without the permission of its owner and abandons it at or near the place from which it was taken is liable to three years' imprisonment; a person who does so and abandons the vehicle at any other place is liable to five years' imprisonment.

A person who wilfully destroys or damages a vehicle or any part thereof is liable to five years' imprisonment.

A person who breaks or breaks into a vehicle is liable to three years' imprisonment; a person who does so with intent to commit a theft or a felony is liable to seven years' imprisonment.

A person in whose possession an instrument used for breaking into a vehicle is found and who has no reasonable explanation therefor is liable to three years' imprisonment.

A person who steals or forges a document or uses a document fraudulently, where —

is liable to five years' imprisonment.

A person who forges or obliterates identifying marks of a vehicle or of a part of a vehicle, or does any act that makes their identification more difficult, is liable to seven years' imprisonment.

A person who receives, himself or through another, a vehicle or a part of a vehicle knowing that the vehicle or the part was obtained by an offence under this Section, or who assumes, himself, through another, or together with another, control over such a vehicle or part, is liable to seven years' imprisonment.

A person who knowingly engages in the sale, purchase, dismantling or assembly of a stolen vehicle or of a stolen part of a vehicle is liable to ten years' imprisonment.

Where a person has been convicted of an offence under this Section, the court may, in addition to any other punishment and in addition to its powers under section 43 of the Traffic Ordinance, disqualify that person from holding a driving licence or a vehicle licence for a period it shall determine.

The provisions of this Section are in addition to the provisions of this Law and any other law, and shall not derogate therefrom.

In this Section —

"thing" — real property, movable property, a right and a benefit;

"deceit" — an assertion of fact concerning a past, present or future matter, made in writing, orally or by conduct, which the person making it knows to be untrue or does not believe to be true; and "to deceive" — to induce a person by deceit to do or omit an act;

"document" — a written instrument, and any other means, whether written or in another form, capable of serving as evidence;

"forgery" — any of the following:

"cheque" — as its meaning in the Bills of Exchange Ordinance, including a bill of exchange drawn on a credit cooperative society that is payable on demand;

"banker" — the person on whom the cheque is drawn.

A person who obtains a thing by deceit is liable to three years' imprisonment, and if the offence was committed in aggravating circumstances, is liable to five years' imprisonment.

A person who obtains a thing by artifice or by deliberate exploitation of another's mistake, where no deceit is involved, is liable to two years' imprisonment.

One who forges a document shall be liable to imprisonment for one year; if that person forged a document with intent to receive something by means of it, the penalty shall be imprisonment for three years; and if the offence was committed in aggravating circumstances, the penalty shall be imprisonment for five years.

One who forges a document containing information about a person or a corporation with intent to deceive shall be liable to imprisonment for three years; it is immaterial for this purpose whether the person or corporation existed or not, and whether the corporation was about to be incorporated but was not incorporated.

One who submits or issues a forged document or otherwise uses it, knowing it to be forged, shall be liable to the same penalty as the forger of the document.

A public servant who forges a document over which that servant is in charge of making or keeping, or to which that servant has access by virtue of the office, shall be liable to imprisonment for three years with or without a fine; if that servant did so with intent to receive something, the penalty shall be imprisonment for five years with or without a fine; if that servant received something by means of such a forged document, the penalty shall be imprisonment for seven years with or without a fine.

One who fraudulently induces a person to make or sign a document, or to obtain another person's signature or a seal on a document, shall be liable to the same penalty as a forger, and the document shall be treated as a forged document; one who fraudulently induces a person to destroy a document in a manner that may cause that person to lose something shall be liable to the same penalty as one who receives something by deceit; these provisions shall not derogate from any provision of any other law regarding inducement.

A founder, director, member or officer of a corporation who records, or causes to be recorded, a false particular in a document of the corporation with intent to deceive, or who refrains from recording therein a particular that was required to be recorded, with intent to deceive, shall be liable to imprisonment for five years; for the purpose of this section and sections 424 and 425, "corporation" includes a corporation about to be incorporated.

A director, business manager or other employee of a corporation —

"senior office holder" means a general manager, chief executive officer, deputy general manager, assistant general manager, comptroller, internal auditor, secretary of the corporation, and any person fulfilling such a role, whatever the title of the office;

"superior" means a person to whose direct instructions a senior office holder is subject, and in the case of a general manager — the board of directors of the company or such person as the board of directors has designated as the superior for the purpose of this section; where there is no board of directors in the corporation, the superior shall be the body or person fulfilling functions similar to those of a board of directors of a company, or such person as they have designated;

"publishes" includes furnishing information to a public body;

"corporation in which the public has an interest" means one of the following:

A director, business manager or other employee of a corporation, or a receiver, liquidator, provisional liquidator, property manager or special administrator of a corporation, who in the course of fulfilling the office acted with fraud or in breach of trust in a manner that harms the corporation, shall be liable to imprisonment for three years.

One who conceals, destroys or removes from possession a document or asset with intent to deceive shall be liable to imprisonment for three years.

One who threatens a person, in writing, orally or by conduct, with unlawful harm to that person's body or to the body of another person, to their liberty, property, livelihood, good name or privacy, or who threatens a person to publish or to refrain from publishing something concerning that person or another person, or who otherwise intimidates a person, all in order to cause the person to do an act or to refrain from an act that the person is entitled to do, shall be liable to imprisonment for seven years; if the act or omission was done as a result of, or in the course of, such a threat or intimidation, the penalty shall be imprisonment for nine years.

One who unlawfully takes another person's asset in order to induce that person to give something or to make or sign a document shall be liable to imprisonment for one year.

One who exploits the distress, physical or mental weakness, inexperience or light-mindedness of another by doing one of the following shall be liable to imprisonment for three years:

Criminal liability under section 432 does not derogate from criminal liability under any other enactment.

In an offence under this Section that involves cheques, the court may, in addition to any other penalty, restrict the accused in drawing cheques and exercise the other powers under section 19 of the Cheques Without Cover Law, 5741-1981.

For the purposes of this Section –

For the purposes of this Section, receipt of a thing — whether or not ownership of the thing passed to the recipient, whether the thing was received for the benefit of the person doing the act or for another, whether by the person doing the act or through another; and giving of a thing — whether to the person doing the act or to another.