231. Appointment of inspectors for declared companies

Where a company or foreign company has been declared to be a company to which this Part applies, the Minister must appoint one or more inspectors to investigate the affairs of that company, and to report his or her opinion thereon to the Minister.

An inspector appointed under subsection (1) may, at any time in the course of the inspector’s investigation, without the necessity of making an interim report, inform the Minister of matters coming to the inspector’s knowledge as a result of the investigation which tend to show that an offence has been committed; and the Minister may thereafter take such steps as the Minister may consider fit.

The expenses of and incidental to an investigation of a declared company must be defrayed in the first instance out of moneys provided by Parliament.

Where the Minister is of the opinion that the whole or any part of the expenses of and incidental to the investigation should be paid by the company or by any person who is convicted on a prosecution brought under section 233(3) or who is ordered to pay damages or restore property in proceedings under section 233(4) the Minister may by notification in the Gazette direct that the expenses be so paid.

A notification under subsection (4) may specify the time or times and the manner in which the payment of the expenses must be made.

Where a notification has been published by the Minister under subsection (5), the persons named in the notification to the extent therein specified shall be liable to reimburse the Minister in respect of such expenses.

Action to recover any such expenses may be taken in the name of the Government in any court of competent jurisdiction.

Where a notification under subsection (4) has been published for the payment of the whole or part of the expenses by a company and the company is in liquidation or subsequently goes into liquidation the expenses so ordered to be paid by the company are deemed to be part of the costs and expenses of the winding up for the purposes of section 203(1)(a) of the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018.

The report of the inspector may if the inspector thinks fit, and must, if the Minister so directs, include a recommendation as to the terms of the notification which the inspector thinks proper in the light of the inspector’s investigation to be given by the Minister under subsection (4).