336. Offences by officers of companies in liquidation
(1) If any person, who is or has been an officer of a company which, at the time of
the commission of the alleged offence, is being wound up, whether by the Tribunal or
voluntarily, or which is subsequently ordered to be wound up by the Tribunal or which
subsequently passes a resolution for voluntary winding up,—
(a) does not, to the best of his knowledge and belief, fully and truly disclose to
the Company Liquidator all the property, movable and immovable, 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 course of the
business of the company;
(b) does not deliver up to the Company Liquidator, or as he directs, all such part
of the movable and immovable property of the company as is in his custody or under
his control and which he is required by law to deliver up;
(c) does not deliver up to the Company Liquidator, or as he directs, all such
books and papers of the company as are in his custody or under his control and which
he is required by law to deliver up;
(d) within the twelve months immediately before the commencement of the
winding up or at any time thereafter,—
(i) conceals any part of the property of the company to the value of one
thousand rupees or more, or conceals any debt due to or from the company;
(ii) fraudulently removes any part of the property of the company to the
value of one thousand rupees or more;
(iii) 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;
(iv) 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;
(v) fraudulently parts with, alters or makes any omission in, or is privy to
the fraudulent parting with, altering or making of any omission in, any book or
paper affecting or relating to the property or affairs of the company;
(vi) by any false representation or other fraud, obtains on credit, for or on
behalf of the company, any property which the company does not subsequently
pay for;
(vii) 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
(viii) 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 of the property is in the ordinary course of business of
the company;
(e) makes any material omission in any statement relating to the affairs of the
company;
(f) knowing or believing that a false debt has been proved by any person under
the winding up, fails for a period of one month to inform the Company Liquidator
thereof;
(g) 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;
(h) after the commencement of the winding up or at any meeting of the creditors
of the company within the twelve 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
(i) is guilty of any false representation or 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 punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than three years
but which may extend to five years and with fine which shall not be less than one lakh rupees
but which may extend to three lakh rupees:
Provided that it shall be a good defence if the accused proves that he had no intent to
defraud or to conceal the true 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 an offence under sub-clause (viii) of clause (d) of sub-section (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 be punishable
with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than three years but which may extend
to five years and with fine which shall not be less than three lakh rupees but which may
extend to five lakh rupees.
Explanation.—For the purposes of this section, the expression “officer” includes any
person in accordance with whose directions or instructions the directors of the company
have been accustomed to act.