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FIRST SCHEDULE.
Audit of Accounts of Approved Societies and Branches Thereof.
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1.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this paragraph, if it appears to any auditor to whom the accounts of an approved society (including the accounts of any officer or servant of the society) have been submitted under paragraph (a) of sub-section (1) of section 35 of the Act of 1911 that any item of account is contrary to law, or that any money or income which ought to have been brought into account has not been so brought into account, the auditor shall disallow the item of account and shall surcharge the amount of any unlawful payment or expenditure, or of any loss or deficiency, upon any member of the committee of management, officer, or servant of the society or other person by whose gross negligence or misconduct that payment or expenditure has been made or authorised or that loss or deficiency has been incurred.
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(2) No item of account shall be disallowed or surcharged by the auditor under this paragraph if the same has been sanctioned by the Insurance Commissioners.
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2.—(1) The committee of management of an approved society or any person aggrieved by any disallowance or surcharge may, within thirty days after the date of the auditor's certificate, appeal to the Insurance Commissioners, whose decision shall be final, and the procedure on appeal shall be such as may be prescribed.
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(2) The Insurance Commissioners may at any stage of the proceedings on appeal, and shall, if so directed by the High Court, state in the form of a special case for the opinion of the Court any question of law arising in the course of the appeal.
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3.—(1) The Insurance Commissioners, in considering whether any item of account shall be sanctioned, or in determining any appeal under this Schedule, may, if they are of opinion that any disallowance or surcharge has been or would be lawfully made, but that in the circumstances of the case it is equitable that the disallowance or surcharge should not be made, sanction the item of account and remit the disallowance or surcharge.
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(2) Where the item of account or expenditure relates in whole or in part to moneys for the application of which provision is made by scheme, vote, or regulation, the Insurance Commissioners in acting under this paragraph shall have regard to the terms of that scheme, vote, or regulation.
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4.—In any case in which an appeal has been made to the Insurance Commissioners, the auditor may reopen the audit for the purpose of giving effect to the decision of the Insurance Commissioners.
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5.—(1) Any sum surcharged by the auditor, or any balance certified by him to be due, shall be paid to the Insurance Commissioners by the person who is surcharged or from whom the balance is certified to be due within thirty days after the date of the auditor's certificate, or, if an appeal is lodged and the amount surcharged or certified to be due is not remitted, within thirty days after the date of the decision of the Commissioners, and if not paid within the time aforesaid may be recovered by the Commissioners summarily as a civil debt, and the costs of any proceedings for the recovery of any such sum so far as not recovered from the person surcharged shall be charged to the approved society.
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(2) On any proceedings for the recovery of such a sum a certificate purporting to be signed by an auditor appointed under the Act of 1911 shall be conclusive evidence of the facts thereby certified.
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6.—Any person who knowingly recharges to the funds of an approved society any sum which has been disallowed by the auditor and has not been allowed by the Insurance Commissioners on appeal shall be guilty of an offence under this Schedule and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding three times the amount of the sum so recharged.
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7.—The provisions of this Schedule shall apply to branches of an approved society in like manner as they apply to approved societies.
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