Section 21

Every person who signs or on whose behalf is signed a deed of arrangement to which section 20 applies, who within two months before or at any period after signing the same, receives any secret or collusive preference, gratuity, security, payment or other consideration, all hereinafter included in the word “gratuity”, for concurring in or signing the deed of arrangement shall be guilty of an offence punishable as hereinafter mentioned.

Every gratuity for concurring in or signing, or having concurred in or signed a deed of arrangement, shall be deemed to be secret and collusive if the same or any promise for the same is not disclosed on the face of the deed of arrangement or in a memorandum annexed to the deed at the time when the person who has received or is to receive such gratuity signs the deed of arrangement, which memorandum shall also be signed in acknowledgment of having seen the same by all the parties to the deed of arrangement before the registration thereof. A gratuity shall not be deemed to be secret or collusive if it is disclosed as before mentioned.

Every person committing an offence under this section shall be liable to a fine not exceeding 5 times the amount or value of the gratuity received by or promised to him, and the court before which the person is tried may award a part of the fine, not exceeding one-half thereof, to the informer through whom the conviction has been obtained, provided that the informer is not the debtor.