Companies (Amendment) Act, 1990
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Production of documents and evidence. |
8.—(1) It shall be the duty of all officers and agents of the company or a related company to produce to the examiner all books and documents of or relating to any such company which are in their custody or power, to attend before him when required so to do and otherwise to give to him all assistance in connection with his functions which they are reasonably able to give. | |
(2) If the examiner considers that a person other than an officer or agent of any such company is or may be in possession of any information concerning its affairs, he may require that person to produce to him any books or documents in his custody or power relating to the company, to attend before him and otherwise to give him all assistance in connection with his functions which he is reasonably able to give; and it shall be the duty of that person to comply with the requirement. | ||
(3) If the examiner has reasonable grounds for believing that a director, or past director, of any such company maintains or has maintained a bank account of any description, whether alone or jointly with another person and whether in the State or elsewhere, into or out of which there has been paid— | ||
(a) any money which has resulted from or been used in the financing of any transaction, arrangement or agreement particulars of which have not been disclosed in the accounts of any company for any financial year as required by law; or | ||
(b) any money which has been in any way connected with any act or omission, or series of acts or omissions, which on the part of that director constituted misconduct (whether fraudulent or not) towards that company or its members; | ||
the examiner may require the director to produce to him all documents in the director's possession, or under his control, relating to that bank account; and in this subsection “bank account” includes an account with any person exempt by virtue of section 7 (4) of the Central Bank Act, 1971 , from the requirement of holding a licence under section 9 of that Act. | ||
(4) An examiner may examine on oath, either by word of mouth or on written interrogatories, the officers and agents of such company or other person as is mentioned in subsection (1) or (2) in relation to its affairs and may— | ||
(a) administer an oath accordingly, | ||
(b) reduce the answers of such person to writing and require him to sign them. | ||
(5) If any officer or agent of such company or other person refuses to produce to the examiner any book or document which it is his duty under this section so to produce, refuses to attend before the examiner when required so to do or refuses to answer any question which is put to him by the examiner with respect to the affairs of the company, the examiner may certify the refusal under his hand to the court, and the court may thereupon enquire into the case and, after hearing any witnesses who may be produced against or on behalf of the alleged offender and any statement which may be offered in defence, punish the offender in like manner as if he had been guilty of contempt of court. | ||
(6) In this section, any reference to officers or to agents shall include past, as well as present, officers or agents, as the case may be, and “agents”, in relation to a company, shall include the bankers and solicitors of the company and any persons employed by the company as auditors, whether those persons are or are not officers of the company. |