Malaysia legislation
Section 14
Section 14
(a)
is a director at the time of issue of the prospectus;
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(b)
authorized or caused himself to be named and is named in the prospectus as a director or as having agreed to become a director either immediately or after an interval of time;
(c)
is a promoter of the corporation; or
(d)
authorized or caused the issue of the prospectus.
(2)
Notwithstanding anything in subsection (1), where the consent of an expert is required to the issue of a prospectus and he has given that consent, he shall not by reason only thereof be liable as a person who has authorized or caused the issue of the prospectus except in respect of an untrue statement purporting to be made by him as an expert, and the inclusion in the prospectus of a name of a person as a trustee for debenture-holders, auditor, banker, barrister, advocate or solicitor or stock or share broker shall not for that reason alone be construed as an authorization by such person for the issue of the prospectus.
(3)
No person shall be liable under subsection (1) if he proves—
(a)
that, having consented to become a director of the corporation, he withdrew his consent before the issue of the prospectus, and that it was issued without his authority or consent;
(b)
that the prospectus was issued without his knowledge or consent and he gave reasonable public notice thereof forthwith after he became aware of its issue;
(c)
that after the issue of the prospectus and before allotment or sale thereunder he, on becoming aware of any untrue statement therein, withdrew his consent and gave reasonable public notice of the withdrawal and of the reason therefor; or
(d)
that—
(i)
as regards every untrue statement not purporting to be made on the authority of an expert or of a public official document or statement, he had reasonable ground to believe, and did up to the time of the allotment, issue or sale of the securities believe, that the statement was true;
Act 704
(ii)
as regards every untrue statement purporting to be a statement made by an expert or to be based on a statement made by an expert or contained in what purports to be a copy of or extract from a report or valuation of an expert, it fairly represented the statement, or was a correct and fair copy of an extract from the report or valuation, and he had reasonable ground to believe and did up to the time of the issue of the prospectus believe, that the expert making the statement was competent to make it and that that expert had given the consent required by section 13 to the issue of the prospectus and had not withdrawn that consent before delivery of a copy of the prospectus for registration or, to the person’s knowledge, before any allotment, issue or sale thereunder; and
(iii)
as regards every untrue statement purporting to be a statement made by an official person or contained in what purports to be a copy of or extract from a public official document, it was a correct and fair representation of the statement or copy of or extract from the document.
(4)
Subsection (3) shall not apply in the case of a person liable, by reason of his having given a consent required of him by section 13 as a person who has authorized or caused the issue of the prospectus in respect of an untrue statement purporting to have been made by him as an expert.
(5)
A person who apart from this subsection would under subsection (1) be liable, by reason of his having given a consent required of him by section 13, as a person who has authorized the issue of a prospectus in respect of an untrue statement purporting to be made by him as an expert shall not be so liable if he proves—
(a)
that, having given his consent under section 13 to the issue of the prospectus, he withdrew it in writing before a copy of the prospectus was lodged with the Authority;
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(b)
that, after a copy of the prospectus was lodged with the
Authority and before issue or sale thereunder, he on becoming aware of the untrue statement, withdrew his consent in writing and gave reasonable public notice of the withdrawal and the reasons therefor; or
(c)
that he was competent to make the statement and that he had reasonable ground to believe and did up to the time of the issue or sale of the securities believe that the statement was true.
(6)
Where—
(a)
a prospectus contains the name of a person as a director of a corporation, or as having agreed to become a director, and he has not consented to become a director, or has withdrawn his consent before the issue of the prospectus, and has not authorized or consented to the issue thereof;
or
(b)
the consent of a person is required under section 13 to the issue of the prospectus and he either has not given that consent or has withdrawn it before the issue of the prospectus, the directors of the company except any without whose knowledge or consent the prospectus was issued, and any other person who authorized or caused the issue of the prospectus, shall be liable to indemnify the person so named or whose consent was so required against all damages, costs and expenses to which he may be made liable by reason of his name having been inserted in the prospectus or of the inclusion therein of a statement purporting to be made by him as an expert, or in defending himself against any action or legal proceedings brought against him in respect thereof.
Criminal liability for misstatement in prospectus