44Withdrawal of privilege from body corporate
(1)Where—
(a)a body corporate has been convicted of an offence under section 42 above, or
(b)the name of a director of a body corporate has been erased from the register under section 27 above, or
(c)a director of a body corporate has been convicted under section 38 or 41 above,
the Professional Conduct Committee may, subject to subsection (3) below, direct that the exemption conferred by section 43 above shall cease to extend to that body corporate as from such date as the Committee may specify.
(2)Where—
(a)the name of a member of the operating staff of a body corporate has been erased from the register under section 27 above, and
(b)in the opinion of the Professional Conduct Committee the act or omission constituting the offence or serious professional misconduct on account of which his name was erased was instigated or connived at by a director of the body corporate, or, if the act or omission was a continuing act or omission, a director of the body corporate had, or reasonably ought to have had, knowledge of its continuance,
the Committee may, subject to subsection (3) below, direct that the exemption conferred by section 43 above shall cease to extend to that body corporate as from such date as the Committee may specify.
(3)The Professional Conduct Committee shall not take a case into consideration under subsection (1) or (2) above while proceedings by way of appeal are pending which may result in that subsection being rendered inapplicable in that case, nor during the period in which any such proceedings may be brought.
(4)Where the Professional Conduct Committee determine under subsection (1) or (2) above that the exemption conferred by section 43 above shall cease to extend to a body corporate, the Committee shall notify the body corporate of their determination and that body may, within twenty-eight days of the notification, in accordance with such rules as Her Majesty may by Order in Council provide for the purposes of this section, appeal to Her Majesty in Council—
(a)in the case of a determination under subsection (1) above, on the ground that, notwithstanding the conviction or (as the case may be) the erasure of the name, the Committee's decision was unjustified;
(b)in the case of a determination under subsection (2) above, on the ground that the opinion of the Committee as to the matters referred to in paragraph (b) of that subsection was incorrect or that, although that opinion was correct, the Committee's decision was unjustified.
(5)The provisions of sections 29 and 30(1) and (2) above shall, with the necessary modifications, apply for the purposes of subsection (4) above as they apply in relation to an appeal under section 29 against a determination of the Professional Conduct Committee.
(6)References in this section to the erasure of the name, or to the conviction, of a director of a body corporate include references to the erasure of the name, or to the conviction, of any person who was a director of a body corporate at the time of the offence or misconduct leading to the erasure or conviction.