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Offences by officers of companies in liquidation.
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293.—(1) Subject to subsection (2), if any person, being a past or present officer of a company which at the time of the commission of the alleged offence is being wound up, whether by the court or voluntarily, or is subsequently ordered to be wound up by the court or subsequently passes a resolution for voluntary winding up—
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(a) does not to the best of his knowledge and belief fully and truly disclose to the liquidator when he requests such disclosure all the property, real and personal, of the company and how and to whom and for what consideration and when the company disposed of any part thereof, except such part as has been disposed of in the ordinary way of the business of the company; or
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(b) does not deliver up to the liquidator, or as he directs, all such part of the real and personal property of the company as is in his custody or under his control, and which he is required by law to deliver up; or
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(c) does not deliver up to the liquidator, or as he directs, all books and papers in his custody or under his control belonging to the company and which he is required by law to deliver up; or
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(d) within 12 months next before the commencement of the winding up or at any time thereafter conceals any part of the property of the company to the value of £10 or upwards, or conceals any debt due to or from the company; or
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(e) within 12 months next before the commencement of the winding up or at any time thereafter fraudulently removes any part of the property of the company to the value of £10 or upwards; or
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(f) makes any material omission in any statement relating to the affairs of the company; or
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(g) knowing or believing that a false debt has been proved by any person under the winding up, fails for the period of a month to inform the liquidator thereof; or
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(h) after the commencement of the winding up prevents the production of any book or paper affecting or relating to the property or affairs of the company; or
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(i) within 12 months next before the commencement of the winding up or at any time thereafter conceals, destroys, mutilates or falsifies or is privy to the concealment, destruction, mutilation or falsification of any book or paper affecting or relating to the property or affairs of the company; or
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(j) within 12 months next before the commencement of the winding up or at any time thereafter makes or is privy to the making of any false entry in any book or paper affecting or relating to the property or affairs of the company; or
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(k) within 12 months next before the commencement of the winding up or at any time thereafter fraudulently parts with, alters or makes any omission in, or is privy to the fraudulent parting with, altering or making any omission in, any document affecting or relating to the property or affairs of the company; or
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(l) after the commencement of the winding up or at any meeting of the creditors of the company within 12 months next before the commencement of the winding up attempts to account for any part of the property of the company by fictitious losses or expenses; or
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(m) has within 12 months next before the commencement of the winding up or at any time thereafter, by any false representation or other fraud, obtained any property for or on behalf of the company on credit which the company does not subsequently pay for; or
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(n) within 12 months next before the commencement of the winding up or at any time thereafter, under the false pretence that the company is carrying on its business, obtains on credit for or on behalf of the company, any property which the company does not subsequently pay for; or
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(o) within 12 months next before the commencement of the winding up or at any time thereafter pawns, pledges or disposes of any property of the company which has been obtained on credit and has not been paid for, unless such pawning, pledging or disposing is in the ordinary way of business of the company; or
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(p) is guilty of any false representation or other fraud for the purpose of obtaining the consent of the creditors of the company or any of them to an agreement with reference to the affairs of the company or to the winding up;
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he shall, in the case of an offence mentioned in paragraph (m), (n) or (o), be liable, on conviction on indictment, to penal servitude for a term not exceeding 5 years or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or to both such penal servitude or imprisonment and such fine and, in the case of an offence mentioned in any other paragraph, be liable, on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to a fine not exceeding £500 or to both, or, in the case of any offence under this subsection, be liable, on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to a fine not exceeding £100 or to both.
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(2) It shall be a good defence to a charge under any of paragraphs (a), (b), (c), (d), (f), (n) and (o) of subsection (1), if the accused proves that he had no intent to defraud and to a charge under any of paragraphs (h), (i) and (j) of subsection (1), if he proves that he had no intent to conceal the state of affairs of the company or to defeat the law.
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(3) Where any person pawns, pledges or disposes of any property in circumstances which amount to an offence under paragraph (o) of subsection (1), every person who takes in pawn or pledge or otherwise receives the property knowing it to be pawned, pledged or disposed of in such circumstances as aforesaid shall also be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to be punished in the same way as if he had been guilty of an offence under the said paragraph (o).
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(4) For the purposes of this section, “officer” shall include any person in accordance with whose directions or instructions the directors of a company have been accustomed to act.
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