Falsification of company’s books
Part IV Winding Up of Companies Registered under the Companies Acts
(1)When a company is being wound up, an officer or contributory of the company commits an offence if he destroys, multilates, alters or falsifies any books, papers or securities, or makes or is privy to the making of any false or fraudulent entry in any register, book of account or document belonging to the company with intent to defraud or deceive any person.
(2)A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable to imprisonment or a fine, or both.
2 Section 233B does not apply in relation to a contract for the supply of goods or services to a company (“the company”) where any of paragraphs 3 to 11 applies.
Defined in Sch.4ZZA para.2 · see it in the full Act(1) In this Act . . . the expression “contributory” means every person liable to contribute to the assets of a company in the event of its being wound up, and for the purposes of all proceedings for determining, and all proceedings prior to the final determination of, the persons who are to be deemed contributories, includes any person alleged to be a contributory.
Defined in s.79(1) · see it in the full ActHeld not to ground a private damages action because it creates a criminal offence. The statutory conditions also were not met against defendants who were not past or present officers or contributories (see para [119]).
The court compared section 209’s differing terminology when assessing the statutory context. That variation did not displace the practical construction adopted for section 206(1)(c) (see para [22]).
Cited in allegations that company books had been falsified. The court treated the allegation as a bare and unparticularised assertion and did not determine the statutory offence. (see para [38])
What each judgment says about section 209 is in the case-law panel in the full Act.