Rescue, Rehabilitation and Insolvency (Corporate and Personal) Act 2026 · As enacted · Part XVI
442. Offence relating to administration or liquidation
Official English translation. Where it differs from the Sinhala or Tamil text, the Act itself says which text prevails.
Official translationFrom Department of Government Printing, unchanged
Where a company is in administration or liquidation or of which the administration or liquidation subsequently commences, and a past or present director or other officer, or a contributory, of such company–
in response to a request by the administrator, liquidator or provisional liquidator, does not to the best of the person’s knowledge and belief, fully and truly make known to the administrator, liquidator or provisional liquidator, as the case may be, all of the property, movable and immovable, of the company, and how and to whom and for what consideration and when the company disposed of any part thereof, except such part as has been disposed of in the normal course of the company’s business;
does not deliver to the administrator, liquidator or provisional liquidator all such part of the movable and immovable property of the company as is in the person’s possession or custody or under the person’s control, and which the administrator, liquidator or provisional liquidator, as the case may be, may reasonably request the person to deliver;
Rescue, Rehabilitation and Insolvency
does not deliver to the administrator, liquidator or provisional liquidator all books, records and documents of the company in the person’s possession or custody or under the person’s control and which the administrator, liquidator or provisional liquidator, as the case may be, may reasonably request the person to deliver;
prevents the production of any book, record or document to the administrator, liquidator or provisional liquidator relating to the company’s affairs, business, property or financial circumstances;
makes, abets or is concerned in the making of, any statement relating to the affairs, business, property or financial circumstances of the company that –
is false or misleading in a material particular; or
omits to disclose any fact or matter, where such omission makes the statement false or misleading in a material particular;
knowing or believing that a false debt has been proved by any person, fails for a period of one month to inform the administrator, liquidator or provisional liquidator thereof; or
makes any fraudulent representation or does any other fraud for the purpose of obtaining the consent of any creditor to an agreement with respect to the company or to the administration or liquidation,
Rescue, Rehabilitation and Insolvency such director or other officer, or a contributory commits an offence and shall on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding three million rupees or to rigorous imprisonment for a term not exceeding seven years or to both such fine and imprisonment.
It is a good defence to a charge under paragraphs (a), (b), (c), (d), (e) and (f) of subsection (1) to prove that the person had no intent to conceal the state of affairs of the company or to defeat the law.