Social Welfare Act, 1983

Amendment of section 144 of Principal Act.

19.—Section 144 of the Principal Act is hereby amended—

(a) by the substitution for subsection (2) of the following subsection:

“(2) An employer or servant or agent of an employer who aids, abets, counsels or procures an employee in the employment of that employer to commit any offence under subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £500 or (at the discretion of the court) to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or to both such fine and such imprisonment, or

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding £2,000 or (at the discretion of the court) to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to both such fine and such imprisonment.”,

and

(b) by the substitution for subsection (5) (inserted by the Social Welfare (Amendment) Act, 1981 ) of the following subsection:

“(5) Where an offence under this Chapter or under regulations made under this Chapter is committed by a body corporate and, in the case of an offence under subsection (1) where the offence is committed by an employee or officer of the body corporate, every person who at the time of the commission of the offence was a director, manager, secretary or other officer of the body corporate or was purporting to act in any such capacity shall also be guilty of that offence.”.