Section 45
Appointment of Disciplinary Panel
(1)
For the purpose of enabling Disciplinary Committees to be constituted under this Part, the Authority shall appoint a panel, to be known as the Disciplinary Panel, consisting of such number of public accountants and lay persons as he thinks fit.
(2)
A member of the Disciplinary Panel shall be appointed for a term of 2 years and shall be eligible for reappointment.
(3)
The Registrar shall be the chairman of the Disciplinary Panel.
(4)
The Authority may at any time remove from office any member of the Disciplinary Panel or fill any vacancy in its membership.
Complaints against public accountants, accounting corporations, accounting firms and accounting Limited Liability Partnerships 46.
(1)
Any complaint concerning —
(a)
any improper or dishonourable conduct on the part of a public accountant in the discharge of his professional duty; or
(b)
any improper act or conduct on the part of a public accountant, an accounting corporation, an accounting firm or an accounting Limited Liability Partnership, shall be made to the Oversight Committee in writing and shall be supported by such statutory declaration as the Oversight Committee may require, except that no statutory declaration shall be required if the complaint or information is made or given by any public officer or person authorised by the Authority.
(2)
The Oversight Committee may require any person making a complaint to deposit with it a reasonable sum not exceeding $500 to cover the costs and expenses that may necessarily be incurred by the Oversight
Committee in dealing with the complaint.
(3)
Where the complaint is dismissed under section 47(6) or is otherwise found to be frivolous or vexatious following a review or inquiry
Accountants 44
under this Part, the sum so deposited or such part thereof as the Oversight
Committee may determine shall be applied for the payment of those costs and expenses; otherwise the sum so deposited shall be returned to the person making the complaint.
(4)
Any person who makes a complaint to the Oversight Committee under this Part which he knows to be false in any material particular is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000.