5. Maintenance of secrecy
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Subject to the provisions of subsection (2). every officer or employee of the Department of Inland Revenue, or of any commercial bank or of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, shall preserve, and aid in preserving, secrecy with regard to all matters that may come to his knowledge in the adminis-tration of this Act and shall not give, divulge or reveal any information whatsoever regarding a foreign currency ac-count referred to in section 2(1) (b) to any individual, cor-poration, bank, court, institution, entity, department, official, agent, representative of the Government of Sri Lanka or to any other Jegal or natural person.
Nothwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1), the Commissioner-General or the Controller of Exchange, or an officer or employee of a commercial bank, as the case may be, shall if he is required to do so—
hy the person to whom such matter or information relates
;
by any provision of any law giving effect to an international convention on narcotics or hijacking ja any criminal proceedings instituted under that law, in any court;
by an order of the Supreme Court, made on appli-cation therefor, on the ground that moneys in any account referred to in section 2 (1) (b) have been or are being used in furtherance of an act which constitutes an offence under the Prevention of
Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act, No. 48 of 1979 ; or
{iv) by an order of court in any legal proceedings instituted by or against a commercial bank, or by or against the holder of an account referred in section 2 (1) (b)} relating to a banking transaction arising from such account, communicate to such person or’ court any matter or information which has come to his knowledge in the administration of this Act,
Any officer or employee of the Department of
Inland Revenue, or of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka or of any commercial bank, who acts in contravention of the provisions of subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence under this Act. and shall, on conviction after summary trial before a Magistrate, be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand rupees or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or tc both such fine and imprisonment.