Section 294 - Control of public invitations

(1) A person shall not make an invitation to the public,

(a) to acquire or dispose of any shares or debentures of a company, or

(b) to deposit money with a company for a fixed period or payable at call, whether bearing or not bearing interest,

unless the company concerned is a public company and the appropriate provisions contained in Part A of Chapter Four are duly complied with.

(2) Subsection (1) does not render unlawful the sale of shares or debentures by or under the supervision of the Court.

(3) Where an invitation to the public is made in breach of subsection (1), the person who made the invitation and an officer of a body corporate who made the invitation each commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction

(a) in the case of a body corporate, to a fine of not less than five hundred penalty units and not more than one thousand penalty units, and

(b) in any other case to a fine of not less than five hundred penalty units and not more than one thousand penalty units or to a term of imprisonment of not less than one year and not more than two years or to both the fine and imprisonment.

(4) Where as a result of an invitation to the public in breach of subsection (1), a person acquires or disposes of shares or debentures or deposits money with a company, that person is entitled to rescind the transaction and in addition to or instead of rescinding, may recover compensation for a loss sustained by that person from a person who is liable, whether convicted or not, in respect of the breach.

(5) Where, in accordance with subsection (4), a person claims to rescind a transaction, that person shall do so with reasonable promptitude and is not entitled to rescind a transaction with the company or to recover compensation from the company unless that person takes steps to rescind before the commencement of the winding up of the company.