ENACTMENT NO. 6 OF 1993 ZAKAT AND FITRAH ENACTMENT 1993
PART IX - OFFENCES AND PUNISHMENTS
Section 71. Power to compound offences.
(1) Where any person has committed any offence under this Enactment, the Secretary may at any time before conviction compound the offence and order that person to pay such sum of money, not exceeding the amount of the maximum fine or any special penalty to which that person would have been liable if he had been convicted of the offence, as he thinks fit:
Provided that the Secretary shall not exercise his power under this section unless that person admits in writing that he has committed the offence and requests the Secretary to deal with the offence under this section.
(2) Where under this section the Secretary compounds an offence committed by any person and makes an order accordingly –
(a) the order shall be made in writing under the hand of the Secretary and there shall be attached to it the written admission and request referred to in subsection (1);
(b) the order shall specify –
(i) the offence committed;
(ii) the sum of money ordered to be paid; and
(iii) the date on which payment is to be made or the dates on which installments of that sum are to be paid, as the case may be, and, if the order provides for the instalment payment and a default is committed in the payment of any instalment all the balance remains due at that time shall become payable immediately;
(c) a copy of the order shall be given, if so requested, to the person who committed the offence;
(d) the person shall not be liable to prosecution or, as the case may be, any further prosecution, in respect of the offence and, where any prosecution or any further prosecution is brought, it shall be a good defence for any person to prove that offence was compounded under this section;
(e) the order is final and shall not be subject to any appeal;
(f) the order shall be enforced in the same manner as the judgment of Court in respect of payment of amount specified in the order or the amount remains unpaid, as the case may be; and
(g) the order shall, on production to the Court, be deemed proof of the commission of the offence by the said person and other matters mentioned therein.
(3) The Secretary may reduce or remit any penalty imposed under this Enactment except the penalty imposed upon conviction.