s 46 Offences by bodies corporate
46.—(1) Where, in a proceeding for an offence under this Act, it is necessary to prove the state of mind of a body corporate in relation to a particular conduct, evidence that —(a) an officer, employee or agent of the body corporate engaged in that conduct within the scope of his or her actual or apparent authority; and (b) the officer, employee or agent had that state of mind, is evidence that the body corporate had that state of mind. (2) Where a body corporate commits an offence under this Act, a person —(a) who is —(i) an officer of the body corporate; or (ii) an individual involved in the management of the body corporate and in a position to influence the conduct of the body corporate in relation to the commission of the offence; and (b) who —(i) consented or connived, or conspired with others, to effect the commission of the offence; (ii) is in any other way, whether by act or omission, knowingly concerned in, or is party to, the commission of the offence by the body corporate; or (iii) knew or ought reasonably to have known that the offence by the body corporate (or an offence of the same type) would be or is being committed, and failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent or stop the commission of that offence, shall be guilty of that same offence as is the body corporate and shall be liable on conviction to be punished accordingly. (3) A person mentioned in subsection (2) may rely on a defence that would be available to the body corporate if it were charged with the offence with which the person is charged and, in doing so, the person bears the same burden of proof that the body corporate would bear. (4) To avoid doubt, this section does not affect the application of —(a) Chapters 5 and 5A of the Penal Code 1871; or (b) the Evidence Act 1893 or any other law or practice regarding the admissibility of evidence. (5) To avoid doubt, subsection (2) also does not affect the liability of the body corporate for an offence under this Act, and applies whether or not the body corporate is convicted of the offence. (6) In this section —“body corporate” includes a limited liability partnership; “officer”, in relation to a body corporate, means any director, partner, chief executive, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate, and includes —(a) any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity; and (b) for a body corporate whose affairs are managed by its members, any of those members as if the member were a director of the body corporate; “state of mind” of a person includes —(a) the knowledge, intention, opinion, belief or purpose of the person; and (b) the person’s reasons for the intention, opinion, belief or purpose.[Act 10 of 2024 wef 01/05/2024]