| 19. | Appointment of Investigation Committee, Disciplinary Committee and Disciplinary Appeal Board. | [Am. Act A1099] |
| | At the first meeting of the Council held after the first general meeting and after each annual general meeting of the Institute, the Council shall appoint the following Committees: | |
| | (a) | an Investigation Committee comprising five members of the Council of whom three shall form a quorum; | [Am. Act A1099] |
| | (b) | a Disciplinary Committee comprising five members of the Council not being members of the Investigation Committee of whom three shall form a quorum; and | [Am. Act A1099] |
| | (c) | a Disciplinary Appeal Board comprising five members of the Council of whom three shall form a quorum. | [Ins. Act A1099] |
| 20. | Functions of Investigation Committee and Disciplinary Committee. | |
| | (1) | The Investigation Committee shall investigate any complaints made against any member in the manner laid down in the rules and where it considers that this is justified shall refer the matter to the Disciplinary Committee. | |
| | (2) | The Disciplinary Committee shall if it thinks fit exercise in respect of that member any disciplinary powers conferred upon it by rules. | |
| 21. | Appeal against decision of Disciplinary Committee. | [Subs. Act A1099] |
| | (1) | Any member aggrieved by the decision of the Disciplinary Committee may, within a period of twenty-one days after the decision has been communicated to him, appeal to the Disciplinary Appeal Board. | |
| (2) | When the Disciplinary Appeal Board considers an appeal made under subsection (1), any member of the Investigation Committee who conducted the investigation into the complaint against the member who is making the appeal, or any member of the Disciplinary Committee against whose decision the appeal is made shall not be present or in any way participate in any proceedings relating to that appeal. | |
| | (3) | The Disciplinary Appeal Board may confirm, reverse or vary the decision of the Disciplinary Committee. | |
| | (4) | The decision of the Disciplinary Appeal Board under subsection (3) shall be final. | |
| 22. | Holding out as chartered accountant or auditor or tax consultant | [Am. Act A1099] |
| | No person shall unless he is registered as a chartered accountant under this Act and has his principal or only place of residence within Malaysia- | |
| | (a) | practise or hold himself out as a chartered accountant, auditor, tax consultant, tax adviser or any other like description; | |
| | (b) | adopt, use or exhibit the terms "chartered accountant", "auditor", "tax consultant", "tax adviser" or any other term of like description; or | |
| | (c) | adopt, use or exhibit the term "accountant" or any other term of like description in such circumstances as to indicate or to be likely to lead persons to infer that he is a chartered accountant or that he is qualified by any written law to practise the profession of or is in practice as a chartered accountant: | |
| | Provided that nothing in this section shall operate to prevent an advocate or any person authorized under any other law for the time being in force in Malaysia from carrying on the work of a tax consultant or a tax adviser. | |
| 23. | Holding out as licensed accountant or associate member. | [Am. Act A1099] |
| | No person shall unless he is registered under this Act and has his principal or only place of residence within Malaysia- | |
| | (a) | practise or hold himself out as a licensed accountant or an associate member; | |
| | (b) | adopt, use or exhibit the terms "licensed accountant" or "associate member"; or | |
| | (c) | adopt, use or exhibit the terms "accountant" or any other term of like description in such circumstances as to indicate or to be likely to lead persons to infer that he is a licensed accountant or an associate member. | |
| 24. | Saving. | |
| | Nothing in section 22 or 23 shall debar any person who is registered as a licensed accountant from carrying on any practice in which he was professionally engaged immediately before the coming into operation of this Act. | |
| 24A. | Act or omission done in good faith. | [Ins. Act A1099] |
| | No action or suit shall be instituted or maintained in any court against any person for any act or omission done in good faith in the exercise of the powers and duties under this Act and in a reasonable belief that it was necessary for the purpose intended to be served by it. | |
| 25. | Fraudulent practices. | |
| | Any person who- | |
| | (a) | procures or attempts to procure registration or a certificate of membership under this Act by knowingly making or producing or causing to be made any false or fraudulent declaration, certificate, application or representation, whether in writing or otherwise; | |
| | (b) | wilfully makes or causes to be made any falsification in the register of the Institute; | |
| | (c) | forges, alters or counterfeits any certificate of membership issued under this Act; | |
| | (d) | uses any forged, altered or counterfeit certificate of membership under this Act knowing the same to have been forged, altered or counterfeited; or | |
| | (e) | personates a member of the Institute or buys, sells or fraudulently obtains a certificate of membership issued under this Act, | |
| | shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding ten thousand ringgit or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year. | [Am. Act A1099] |
| 26. | Penalty for certain offences. | [Am. Act A1099] |
| | Any person contravening section 22 or 23 shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding ten thousand ringgit or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year and on a second or subsequent conviction to a fine not exceeding twenty thousand ringgit or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years. | |
| 27. | Penalty for misrepresentation by body corporate. | [Am. Act A1099] |
| | Any body corporate which, or any director, officer, or servant thereof who, does any act of such a nature and in such a manner as to hold-out that the body corporate is a chartered accountant shall be guilty of an offence and the body corporate shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding twenty thousand ringgit and where the act is done by a director, officer or servant of the body corporate the director, officer or servant thereof shall also, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding ten thousand ringgit or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year and on a second or subsequent conviction to a fine not exceeding twenty thousand ringgit or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years. | |
| 28. | Offences by firms. | |
| | Where any firm does any act which in the case of a person would be an offence under this Act, every member of the firm shall be deemed to have committed the offence unless he proves that he was unaware of the commission of that act. | |
| 29. | General penalty. | [Am. Act A1099] |
| | Any person who commits an offence against this Act for which no penalty has been expressly provided shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding five thousand ringgit. | |
| 30. | Recovery of moneys by Council. | |
| | Any sum of money payable to the Institute under this Act or the rules may be recovered by the Council as a debt due to the Council in any court. | |
| 31. | Rules re meetings and membership of Council. | |
| | The provisions of the Second Schedule shall have effect with respect to the Institute and the Council. | |