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Liability for offences by bodies corporate.
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77.— (1) If an offence under this Act is committed by a body corporate and is proved to have been committed with the consent, connivance or approval of, or to have been attributable to any neglect on the part of any person being a director, manager, secretary or any other officer of the body corporate or a person purporting to act in any such capacity, that person, as well as the body corporate, is guilty of an offence and is liable to be proceeded against and punished as if that person were guilty of the first-mentioned offence.
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(2) If, in a prosecution for an offence against the person referred to in subsection (1), it is proved that, at the material time, the person was a director of the body corporate or an employee of it whose duties included making decisions that, to a significant extent, could have affected the management of the body corporate, or a person who purported to act in any such capacity, it shall be presumed, until the contrary is shown, that the person consented to the doing of the acts or defaults that constitute the offence.
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(3) Subsection (2) shall be read as placing on the person referred to in that subsection an evidential burden only with respect to the matter or matters concerned.
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(4) If the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, subsections (1) and (2) apply in relation to the acts or defaults of a member in connection with the member’s functions of management as if that member were a director or manager of the body corporate.
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(5) If a body corporate commits an offence under this Act, an employee, officer, director or agent of the body corporate who authorises, permits or acquiesces in the commission of the offence also commits an offence, whether or not the body corporate is prosecuted for the offence.
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(6) In a prosecution for an offence under this Act, it is sufficient proof of the offence to establish that it was committed by an employee, officer, director or agent of the defendant, whether or not the employee, officer, director or agent is identified or has been prosecuted for the offence.
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(7) Subsection (6) does not apply if the defendant establishes that the defendant exercised due diligence to prevent the commission of the offence.
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