Criminal Code Act 1899

Any person who asks for, receives, or obtains, or agrees or attempts to receive or obtain, any property or benefit of any kind for himself, herself or any other person, upon any agreement or understanding that the person will compound or conceal an indictable offence, or will abstain from, discontinue, or delay, a prosecution for an indictable offence, or will withhold any evidence thereof, is guilty of an indictable offence.

If the indictable offence is such that a person convicted of it is liable to be sentenced to imprisonment for life, the offender is guilty of a crime, and is liable to imprisonment for 7 years.

In any other case the offender is guilty of a misdemeanour, and is liable to imprisonment for 3 years.

The offender can not be arrested without warrant.

Subsection (1) does not apply to an act done for the purpose of the following—

negotiations in accordance with established legal practice between a lawyer representing the alleged offender and the prosecution to achieve a just outcome in relation to the proceedings for the offence;

mediation in good faith between the alleged offender and a victim of the offence or anyone acting in the interests of the victim in relation to an apology, compensation or restitution;

dispute resolution relating to the alleged offence;

discussions in good faith between the alleged offender and police officers calculated to ameliorate the conduct of the offender relevant to the alleged offence.

sch 1 pt 3 ch 16 s 133 amd 1922 13 Geo 5 No. 2 s 3(x); 1988 No. 88 s 5 sch 2; 1999 No. 66 s 6 sch; 2008 No. 55 s 29