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U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 4204. Ineligibility to file valid declarations
(a) In general
A declaration filed pursuant to section 4201 (!1) of this title
and in accordance with sections 4202 and 4203 of this title is
valid unless -
(1) the declaration is filed by a current or former officer or
employee of a Federal or State government agency or
instrumentality who discovered or gathered the information in the
declaration, in whole or in part, while acting within the course
of the declarant's government employment;
(2) the declaration is filed by a person who knowingly
participated in the violation of section 1517 of title 18 or any
of the sections of title 18 referred to in section 1833a(c) of
this title, or any other fraudulent conduct with respect to which
the declaration is made;
(3) the declaration is filed by an institution-affiliated party
(as defined in section 1813(u) of this title) who withheld
information during the course of any bank examination or
investigation authorized pursuant to section 1820 of this title
which such party owed a fiduciary duty to disclose;
(4) the declaration is filed by a member of the immediate
family of the individual whose activities are the subject of the
declaration or where, in the discretion of the Attorney General,
it appears the individual could benefit from the award; or
(5) the declaration consists of allegations or transactions
that have been disclosed to a member of the public in a criminal,
civil, or administrative proceeding, in a congressional,
administrative, or General Accounting Office report, hearing,
audit or investigation, by any other government source, or by the
news media, unless the person providing the declaration is the
original source of the information.
(b) "Original source" defined
For the purposes of subsection (a)(5) of this section, the term
"original source" means a person who has direct and independent
knowledge of the information contained in the declaration and who
voluntarily provided the information to the government prior to the
disclosure.
(c) Notice of invalidity
If the Attorney General determines at any time that a declaration
is invalid under this section, that a declaration fails to meet the
requirements of section 4202 of this title, or that a declaration
has been disclosed in violation of section 4203 of this title, the
Attorney General shall notify the person who filed the declaration
in writing that the declaration is invalid, and the declarant shall
not enjoy any of the rights of the declarant listed in section 4205
or 4206 of this title.
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