Any document, including any newspaper, periodical, book, pamphlet, letter, circular letter, list, record, placard or poster, on the face whereof it appears that a person of a name corresponding to that of an accused person has at any particular time been outside the Republic or has at any particular time made any statement outside the Republic, shall, upon the mere production thereof by the prosecution at criminal proceedings, be prima facie proof that the accused was outside the Republic at such time or, as the case may be, that the accused made such statement outside the Republic at such time, if such document is accompanied by a certificate, purporting to have been signed by the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, to the effect that he is satisfied that such document is of foreign origin.