14. Offences by companies.

¹[(1) If the person committing an offence under this Act ²[,the Scheme or ³[the ⁴[Pension] Scheme or the Insurance Scheme]] is a company, every person who at the time the offence was committed was incharge of, and was responsible to, the company for the conduct of the business of the company, as well as the company, shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly:

Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any such person liable to any punishment,  if he proves that the offence was committed without his knowledge or that he exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section 1 where an offence under this Act ²[,the Scheme or ³[the ⁴[Pension] Scheme or the Insurance Scheme]] has been committed by a company and it is proved that the offence has been committed with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to, any neglect on the part of, any Director or Manager, Secretary or other officer of the company, such Director, Manager, Secretary or other officer shall be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

Explanation - For the purposes of this section, -

(a) "Company" means any body corporate and includes a firm and other association of individuals; and

(b)  "Director" in relation to a firm, means a partner in the firm.]

Notes:

1. Inserted by Act 37 of 1953, s. 13

2. Substituted by Act 16 of 1971, s. 26, for “or the scheme made thereunder”.

3. Substituted by Act 99 of 1976, s. 31, for “the family pension scheme” (w.e.f. 7-9-1976).

4. Substituted by Act 25 of 1996, s. 4, for “Family Pension” (w.e.f. 16-11-1995).