Cap. 386 Art. 307Fraud in anticipation of dissolution.

(1) When a company has been dissolved in accordance with the provisions of article 214, any person, being a past or present officer of the company, shall be guilty of an offence if, within the twelve months immediately preceding the deemed date of dissolution, he has -

(a) concealed any part of the company’s property, or concealed any debt due to or from the company; or

(b) fraudulently removed any part of the company’s property; or

(c) concealed, destroyed, mutilated or falsified any book or paper affecting or relating to the company’s property or affairs; or

(d) made any false entry in any book or paper affecting or relating to the company’s property or affairs; or

(e) fraudulently parted with, or altered any document affecting or relating to the company’s property or affairs; or

(f) pledged or disposed of any property of the company which has been obtained on credit and has not been paid for, unless the pledging or disposal was in the ordinary course of the company’s business; or

(g) by any false representation or other fraud, obtained property for or on behalf of the company on credit which the company does not subsequently pay for; or

(h) exercised any false representation or fraud for the purpose of obtaining the consent of the creditors of the company or of any of them to an agreement with reference to the affairs of the company or to its dissolution.

(2) Such person shall be guilty of an offence if within the period mentioned in sub-article (1) he has been a party to the doing by others of any of the things mentioned in paragraphs (c), (d) and

(e) thereof, and he shall be guilty of an offence if, at any time after the deemed date of dissolution, he does any of the things mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (h) of the said sub-article, or is party to the doing by others of any of the things mentioned in paragraphs (c) to

(e) of that sub-article.

(3) It shall be a defence for a person charged to prove that he had no intent to defraud or to conceal the affairs of the company or to defeat the law.

(4) Where a person pledges or otherwise disposes of any property in circumstances which amount to an offence under sub-article (1)(f), every person who receives the property on pledge or otherwise receives the property knowing it to be pledged or disposed of in such circumstances, shall be guilty of an offence.

(5) For the purposes of this article, the expression "officer" shall include any person in accordance with whose directions or instructions the directors of a company have been accustomed to act.

(6) A person guilty of an offence under this article shall be liable on conviction to a fine (multa) of not more than two hundred and thirty-two thousand and nine hundred and thirty-seven euro (€232,937), or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, or to both such fine (multa) and imprisonment.