Section 318 - Criminal liability for mis-statements

(1) Where a prospectus, an advertisement or a circular published in relation to an invitation to the public to acquire or dispose of shares or debentures of a company or to deposit money with a company,

(a) contains an untrue statement, or

(b) omits truthfully to state any of the matters which, under a section of this Part, it is required to state,

a person who authorised the publication of the prospectus, advertisement or circular commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction 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, or 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, unless that person proves that, the untrue or omitted statement was immaterial or that, that person had reasonable grounds to believe and did believe, up to the time of publication of the prospectus that, the statement was true.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), a person has not authorised the publication of a prospectus by reason only of that person having given the consent required by section 307 and the Registrar has not authorised the publication of an advertisement or circular by reason of the Registrar having given the consent referred to in section 316.