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Sarbanes Oxley
Act |
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SEC. 802. CRIMINAL
PENALTIES FOR ALTERING DOCUMENTS.
(a) IN GENERAL.Chapter
73 of title 18, United States Code,
is amended by
adding at the end the following:
§ 1519.
Destruction, alteration, or falsification of
records
in Federal
investigations and bankruptcy
Whoever
knowingly alters, destroys, mutilates,
conceals, covers
up,
falsifies, or makes a false entry in any
record, document, or
tangible
object with the intent to impede, obstruct, or
influence
the
investigation or proper administration of any
matter within
the
jurisdiction of any department or agency of
the United States
or any case
filed under title 11, or in relation to or
contemplation
of any such
matter or case, shall be fined under this
title, imprisoned
not more than
20 years, or both.
§ 1520.
Destruction of corporate audit records
(a)(1) Any
accountant who conducts an audit of an issuer
of securities
to which section 10A(a) of the Securities
Exchange
Act of 1934
(15 U.S.C. 78j1(a)) applies, shall maintain
all audit
or review
workpapers for a period of 5 years from the
end of
the fiscal
period in which the audit or review was
concluded.
(2) The
Securities and Exchange Commission shall
promulgate,
within 180
days, after adequate notice and an opportunity
for
comment, such
rules and regulations, as are reasonably
necessary,
relating to
the retention of relevant records such as
workpapers,
documents
that form the basis of an audit or review,
memoranda,
correspondence, communications, other
documents, and records
(including
electronic records) which are created, sent,
or received
in connection
with an audit or review and contain
conclusions,
opinions,
analyses, or financial data relating to such
an audit or
review, which
is conducted by any accountant who conducts an
audit of an
issuer of securities to which section 10A(a)
of the
Securities
Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78j1(a))
applies. The
Commission
may, from time to time, amend or supplement
the
rules and
regulations that it is required to promulgate
under this
section,
after adequate notice and an opportunity for
comment,
in order to
ensure that such rules and regulations
adequately
comport with
the purposes of this section.
(b) Whoever
knowingly and willfully violates subsection
(a)(1),
or any rule
or regulation promulgated by the Securities
and
Exchange
Commission under subsection (a)(2), shall be
fined under
this title,
imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.
(c) Nothing
in this section shall be deemed to diminish or
relieve any
person of any other duty or obligation imposed
by
Federal or
State law or regulation to maintain, or
refrain from
destroying,
any document..
(b) CLERICAL
AMENDMENT.The table of sections at
the beginning
of chapter 73
of title 18, United States Code, is amended
by adding at
the end the following new items:
1519.
Destruction, alteration, or falsification of
records in Federal investigations
and
bankruptcy.
1520.
Destruction of corporate audit records..
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