(1)When a company is wound up in England and Wales or in Scotland, the court may refer the whole or any part of the examination of witnesses—
(a)to a specified county court in England and Wales, or
(b)to the sheriff principal for a specified sheriffdom in Scotland, or
(c)to the High Court in Northern Ireland or a specified Northern Ireland County Court,
(" specified " meaning specified in the order of the winding-up court).
(2)Any person exercising jurisdiction as a judge of the court to which the reference is made (or, in Scotland, the sheriff principal to whom it is made) shall then, by virtue of this section, be a commissioner for the purpose of taking the evidence of those witnesses.
(3)The judge or sheriff principal has in the matter referred the same power of summoning and examining witnesses, of requiring the production and delivery of documents, of punishing defaults by witnesses, and of allowing costs and expenses to witnesses, as the court which made the winding-up order.
These powers are in addition to any which the judge or sheriff principal might lawfully exercise apart from this section.
(4)The examination so taken shall be returned or reported to the court which made the order in such manner as that court requests.
(5)This section extends to Northern Ireland.