Forgery, etc., of certificate

(1) If, with intent to deceive, any person, (a) forges within the meaning of the Criminal Code, Cap. 101, or alters or uses or lends to or allows to be used by any other person a certificate of insurance within the meaning of this Act; or (b) makes or has in his possession any document so closely resembling such a certificate as to be calculated to deceive, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanour and shall be liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for two years. (2) If any person for the purpose of obtaining the issue of a certificate of insurance under this Act makes any false statement or withholds any material information he is guilty of an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding four hundred dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to both such fine and term of imprisonment. (3) If any person issues a certificate of insurance which is to his knowledge false in any material particular he is guilty of an offence and is liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding four hundred dollars, or to both such fine and term of imprisonment. (Third Party Risks) 23 (4) If any member of the Belize Police Department has reasonable cause to believe that any certificate of insurance produced to him in pursuance of the provisions of this Act by the driver of a motor vehicle is a document in relation to which an offence under this section has been committed he may seize the document, and when any document is seized under this section, the person from whom it was taken shall, unless previously charged with an offence under this section, be summoned before a court of summary jurisdiction to account for his possession of the said document and the court shall make such order respecting the disposal of the said document and award such costs as the justice of the case may require. (5) In this section, the expression “certificate of insurance” includes any document issued under regulations made under the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act, Cap. 230 to prescribe evidence which may be produced in lieu of a