Companies Act (Cap. 386), article 161

161. (1) Where an auditor ceases for any reason to hold office, he shall deposit at the company’ s registered office a statement of any circumstances connected with his ceasing to hold office whi ch he considers should be brought to the attention of the members or creditors of the company or, if he considers that there are no such COMP ANIES [CAP. 386. 107 circumstances, a stateme nt that there are none. (2) In the case of resignation, the statement shall be deposited along with the notice of resignation; in the case of failure to seek re-appointment, the statement sh all be deposited not less than fourteen days before the general meeting at which auditors are to be reappointed; in any other case, the statement shall be deposite d not later than the end of the period of fourteen days beginning wit h the date on which the auditor ceases to hold office. (3) Where the statement is of circumstances which the auditor requests to be brought to the atte ntion of the members or credi tors of the company, the company shall within fourteen days of the deposit of the statement either - (a) send a copy of it to every person who under article 180 is entitled to be sent copies of the annual accounts; or (b) submit an application to the court for an order that there are grounds of sufficient gravity to warrant that the statement should not be circulated. (4) Where the company submits an application to the court, the court shall notify the auditor o f the application and shall hea r both parties before making a decision on the co mpany’s application. (5) Unless the auditor receives notice of such an application before the end of the period of twenty-one days beginning with the day on which he deposited the st atement, he shall within a furt her seven days send a copy of the statement to t he Registrar. (6) If the court is satisfied that the auditor is using the statement to secure needless pub licity for defamatory matter - (a) it shall direct that copies o f the statement need not be sent out; and (b) it may further order the company’s costs on the application to be paid in whole or in part by the auditor, notwithstanding that he is not a party to the application; and the company shall within four teen days of the court’s decis ion send to the persons mentioned in sub-article (3)( a) a statement setting out the effect of the order. (7) If the court is not so satisfied, the company shall within fourteen days of the court’s decision - (a) send copies of the statemen t to the persons mentioned in sub-article (3)( a); and (b) notify the auditor of the court’s decision, and the auditor shall within s even days of receiving such notic e send a copy of the state ment to the Registrar. Failure to comply with article 161.