Section 342: Reports of offences and production and inspection of accounting

342. Reports of offences and production and inspection of accounting records (1) Where the Court, the Official Receiver, the Registrar or a liquidator is of opinion that an offence against the Act has been committed by any person, it shall forthwith refer the matter to the Director of Public Prosecutions. (2) Where on application made to the Court by the Registrar or a police officer of or above the rank of Assistant Superintendent, there is shown to be reasonable cause to believe that any person has, while a director or other officer of a company, committed an offence in connection with the management of the company’s affairs and that evidence of the commission of the offence is to be found in any accounting records or papers of or under the control of the company, the Court may make an order— (a) authorising any person named therein to inspect the said accounting records or papers or any of them for the purposes of investigating and obtaining evidence of the offence; or (b) requiring the Secretary of the company or such officer thereof as may be named to produce the said accounting records or papers to a person named in the order, at a place so named, by a specific date. (3) An auditor of a company shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed to be an officer of the company.