Effect of ineligibility
31.—(1) No person shall act as a company auditor if he is ineligible for appointment to the office.
(2) If during his term of office a company auditor becomes ineligible for appointment to the office, he shall thereupon vacate office and shall forthwith give notice in writing to the company concerned that he has vacated it by reason of ineligibility.
(3) A person who acts as company auditor in contravention of paragraph (1), or fails to give notice of vacating his office as required by paragraph (2), is guilty of an offence and liable—
(a)on conviction on indictment, to a fine, and
(b)on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum.
(4) In the case of continued contravention he is liable on a second or subsequent summary conviction (instead of the fine mentioned in paragraph (3)(b)) to a fine not exceeding one-tenth of the statutory maximum in respect of each day on which the contravention is continued.
(5) In proceedings against a person for an offence under this Article it is a defence for him to show that he did not know and had no reason to believe that he was, or had become, ineligible for appointment.