(1) This section shall have effect where the Minister receives -
(a) from a court or tribunal exercising criminal jurisdiction in a country or territory outside the State or a prosecuting authority in such a country or territory, or
(b) from any other authority in such a country or territory which appears to him to have the function of making requests of the kind to which this section applies,
a request for assistance in obtaining evidence in the State in connection with criminal proceedings that have been instituted, or a criminal investigation that is being carried on, in that country or territory.
(2) If the Minister is satisfied -
(a) that an offence under the law of the country or territory in question has been committed or that there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that such an offence has been committed, and
(b) that proceedings in respect of that offence have been instituted in that country or territory or that an investigation into that offence is being carried on t