Western Australian Consolidated Acts Western Australian Consolidated Acts (1) If any person,
being a past or present officer of a company who is connected with the
management of the company which at the time of the commission of the alleged
offence is being wound-up, whether by or under the supervision of the Court or
voluntarily, or is subsequently ordered to be wound-up by the Court or
subsequently passes a resolution for voluntary winding-up —
(a) does
not to the best of his knowledge and belief fully and truly discover to the
liquidator 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
(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
(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
(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 or conceals any
debt due to or from the company; or
(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; or
(f)
makes any material omission in any statement relating to the affairs of the
company; or
(g)
knowing 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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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 the business of the company;
or
(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,
he shall be guilty of
a crime, and shall, in the case of the offences mentioned respectively in
paragraphs (m), (n), and (o), be liable on conviction on indictment to
imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years, and in the case of any other
offence shall be liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term
not exceeding one year:
Provided that it shall
be a good defence to a charge under any of paragraphs (a), (b), (c), (d),
(f), (n) and (o), if the accused proves that he had no intent to defraud,
and to a charge under any of paragraphs (h), (i) and (j), if he proves
that he had no intent to conceal the state of affairs of the company or to
defeat the law.
(2) Where any person
pawns, pledges or disposes of any property in circumstances which amount to a
crime under subsection (1)(o), 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 be guilty of a crime,
and on conviction thereof liable to be punished in the same way as if he had
received the property knowing it to have been obtained in circumstances
amounting to a crime.
(3) For the purposes
of this section, the expression officer shall include any manager or any
person occupying the position of a director or in accordance with whose
directions or instructions the directors of a company have been accustomed to
act.
[Section 279 amended by No. 70 of 2004
s. 82.]