Cap. 386 Art. 161Statement by person ceasing to hold office as auditor.

(1) Where an auditor ceases for any reason to hold office, he shall deposit at the company’s registered office a statement of any circumstances connected with his ceasing to hold office which he considers should be brought to the attention of the members or creditors of the company or, if he considers that there are no such circumstances, a statement that there are none.

(2) In the case of resignation, the statement shall be deposited along with the notice of resignation; in the case of failure to seek re-appointment, the statement shall be deposited not less than fourteen days before the general meeting at which auditors are to be reappointed; in any other case, the statement shall be deposited not later than the end of the period of fourteen days beginning with the date on which the auditor ceases to hold office.

(3) Where the statement is of circumstances which the auditor requests to be brought to the attention of the members or creditors of the company, the company shall within fourteen days of the deposit of the statement either -

(a) send a copy of it to every person who under article 180 is entitled to be sent copies of the annual accounts; or

(b) submit an application to the court for an order that there are grounds of sufficient gravity to warrant that the statement should not be circulated.

(4) Where the company submits an application to the court, the court shall notify the auditor of the application and shall hear both parties before making a decision on the company’s application.

(5) Unless the auditor receives notice of such an application before the end of the period of twenty-one days beginning with the day on which he deposited the statement, he shall within a further seven days send a copy of the statement to the Registrar.

(6) If the court is satisfied that the auditor is using the statement to secure needless publicity for defamatory matter -

(a) it shall direct that copies of the statement need not be sent out; and

(b) it may further order the company’s costs on the application to be paid in whole or in part by the auditor, notwithstanding that he is not a party to the application;

and the company shall within fourteen days of the court’s decision send to the persons mentioned in sub-article (3)(a) a statement setting out the effect of the order.

(7) If the court is not so satisfied, the company shall within fourteen days of the court’s decision -

(a) send copies of the statement to the persons mentioned in sub-article (3)(a); and

(b) notify the auditor of the court’s decision, and the auditor shall within seven days of receiving such notice send a copy of the statement to the Registrar.