16. Insertion of new sections 82A, 82B, 82C, 82D, 82E and 82F in the principal enactment

The following new sections are hereby inserted immediately after section 82 of the principal enactment, and shall have effect as sections 82A, 82B, 82C, 82D, 82E and 82F of that enactment: -

82A. (1) Subject to the provisions of subsection (2), where any cheque drawn by a customer on an account maintained by him with a bank for payment of any amount of money to another person from that account for the discharge, in whole or in part, of any debt or other liability is returned by the bank unpaid owing to –

the amount of money standing to the credit of that account being insufficient to honour the cheque;

the amount of the cheque exceeding the amount arranged to be paid from that account by an agreement made with the bank;

the drawer having issued a cheque from a closed account; or

the drawer having countermanded a cheque issued by him without any legitimate reason in terms of subsection (3), such person shall be deemed to have committed an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine equivalent to the amount of the cheque, or to imprisonment of either description for a term not exceeding two years, or to both such fine and imprisonment.

The provisions of subsection (1) shall apply only if –

the cheque has been presented to the drawee bank within a period of six months from the date on which it is drawn or within the period of its validity, whichever is earlier;

the payee or holder in due course of the cheque makes a demand for payment of the value of the returned cheque, in writing to the drawer of the cheque within ninety days of the receipt of information by him from the collecting bank or drawee bank, regarding the return of the cheque as unpaid; and

the drawer of the cheque fails to make the payment in response to such demand to the payee or holder in due course of the cheque, within ninety days of the date of the demand.

Where a drawee bank has dishonoured a cheque by writing the words “refer to drawer”,

where the cheque is deposited for collection through the account of the payee or holder in due course of the cheque, the branch of the bank in which such payee or holder in due course maintains the account, is situated; or

where the cheque is presented for payment by the payee or holder in due course of the cheque to the branch of the drawee bank, the branch of the drawee bank in which the drawer maintains the account, is situated.

the cheque return notification issued by the collecting bank;

the deposit slip acknowledged by the collecting bank; or

the cheque returned by the drawee bank.

if that body of persons is a body corporate, every director, manager, or secretary of that body corporate at the time of the commission of such offence;

if that body of persons is a firm, every partner of that firm at the time of the commission of such offence; and

if that body of persons is an unincorporated body, every individual who is a member of such unincorporated body at the time of the commission of such offence, shall be deemed to have committed that offence: