The Registrar received a complaint from a member of the public about the awarding of a prize by a 
broadcaster to a person who admitted to having obtained a driver’s licence fraudulently. Clause 39 of the Broadcasting Code provides as follows: No payment shall be made to persons involved in crime or other notorious behaviour, or to persons who have been engaged in crime or other notorious behaviour, in order to obtain information concerning any such behaviour, unless compelling societal interests indicate the contrary.
The Tribunal is of the view that the above clause of the Code was not contravened. The aim of the clause is to prohibit broadcasters from eliciting or accepting information from criminals and the like and paying for it. In the present matter the result was the same, but there was no evidence that the information had been elicited from a criminal or a person of other notorious behaviour. Broadcasters should, however, seriously consider taking internal steps to ensure that prizes are not awarded for criminal conduct. The complaint was not upheld.