74. Lost or destroyed share certificates, etc.

(1) If any share certificate, savings deposit pass book, subscription share pass book or fixed deposit receipt issued by a society is lost or destroyed, the society, upon such evidence and subject to such terms and conditions as the directors think fit, and after the loss of such certificate, pass book or receipt has been duly advertised once in the Gazette and once in a newspaper circulating in the town or district in which the member or depositor, as the case may be, resides, may issue a certified copy of such certificate, pass book or receipt:

Provided that the directors may in their discretion authorize the issue of such a certified copy without requiring the loss to be advertised.

(2) Such certified copy shall thereafter for all purposes take the place of the certificate, pass book or receipt so lost or destroyed and be the sole evidence thereof.

75. Inspection of documents by public

On payment of the prescribed fees, any person may inspect at the office of the Registrar the documents relating to any society and required to be lodged with the Registrar in terms of this Act or obtain from the Registrar a certificate of the registration of any society or a copy or extract of any such document kept by the Registrar.

76. Default in rendering accounts and furnishing information

(1) Any society or any association of persons referred to in section 11 which fails-

(a) to render to the Registrar within the period fixed by or under this Act any account or statement or other document required by this Act to be rendered by it to the Registrar;

(b) to amend or complete any document referred to in paragraph (a) when required by the Registrar to do so;

(c) to furnish to the Registrar upon demand by him any information required by him for the purposes of this Act; or

(d) to afford the Registrar or any person deputed by the Registrar all facilities for the making of any investigation which the Registrar is by this Act authorized to make,

shall be guilty of an offence and be liable to a fine not exceeding P200.

(2) No prosecution shall be instituted for any contravention of the provisions of subsection (1)(a), (b) and (c) unless the Registrar has in writing notified the society or association of the default and required the society or association to comply with the said provisions within a specified time, not being less than two weeks after the despatch by the Registrar of such notification, and the society or association has failed within the time so specified to comply with the said provisions.

(3) Any society or any association of persons referred to in section 11 which contravenes the provisions of subsection (1)(a) shall, in addition to any other penalty which may be imposed, be liable to pay a civil penalty not exceeding P20 for every day during which the contravention continues, and the Registrar may, by action in any court of competent jurisdiction, recover from such society or association of persons, as the case may be, such civil penalty or such portion thereof as he, in his discretion, considers the circumstances justify him in claiming.

(4) All penalties recovered under this subsection shall be paid into the general revenue of Botswana.

77. Acceptance of benefits prohibited

(1) No officer or auditor of a society shall receive any benefit whatever for or in connection with any advance or loan made by such society.

(2) No person shall offer or give to any officer or auditor of a society any benefit whatever for or in connection with any advance or loan made by such society.

(3) No officer or auditor of a society shall purchase or have any direct or indirect pecuniary interest in the purchase of any property owned by or mortgaged to the society and sold by or at the instance of the society, unless the property is purchased at a public sale duly advertised or unless the sale is approved by the Registrar.

(4) Any person who contravenes any of the provisions of subsection (1), (2) or (3) shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding P200, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to both.

(5) The court before which any such person is convicted may, in addition, order such convicted person to pay over to the society the amount or value of the benefit received, and any such order may be enforced as if it were an order of the court in civil proceedings.

78. False statements

If any person makes any false statement or orders or allows any false statements to be made in any document which is required by this Act to be sent to the Registrar or which such person expects will be published, knowing such statement to be false, or by addition, alteration, erasure or omission, falsifies any such document, knowing that the addition, alteration, erasure or omission will cause a falsification of the document, he shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding P200, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to both.

79. Default in complying with financial provisions

(1) If a society at any time fails to comply with the provisions of section 32, 41, 42 or 73(2)(c) it shall notify the Registrar in writing of the fact within a period of 30 days after the end of the calendar month during which the failure first occurred.

(2) Whenever the Registrar is satisfied that such failure has taken place, he may, unless it is proved to his satisfaction that the failure took place as a result of circumstances beyond the control of the directors of the society, impose upon the society a penalty not exceeding one-tenth of one per cent of the aggregate of the deficiencies or excesses that existed on every day that the society was in default.

(3) The Registrar shall direct the society to take such steps as will, within a period fixed by him, correct the deficiency or excess, as the case may be, and may from time to time, for good cause shown, extend the period fixed by him.

(4) Whenever the Registrar is satisfied that any society after receiving any such directions from him has failed to correct the deficiency or excess, as the case may be, within the period fixed by him, as extended from time to time, he may impose upon the society a penalty of one-tenth of one per cent of the aggregate of the deficiencies or excesses that existed on every day after the expiration of that period as so extended.

(5) The society shall notify the Registrar as soon as a deficiency or excess has been corrected, and shall, within a period of 40 days after the deficiency or excess has been corrected, submit to the Registrar statements certified by the auditor of the society in support of the facts.

(6) Every penalty payable under the provisions of subsection (2) or (4) may be recovered by the Registrar by action in any competent court, from the society or from one or more of the directors in such shares as he may fix and upon recovery shall be paid into the general revenues of Botswana:

Provided that the Registrar shall not recover from any director any portion of any such penalty if he is satisfied that the failure by reason of which the penalty was imposed did not take place with the permission or connivance of that director and that such director took all such steps as he could reasonably have been expected to take to prevent the said failure.

(7) A director from whom any amount has been recovered in terms of subsection (6) shall not be entitled to recover the whole or any portion of that amount from the society or any other director.

(8) The Registrar may at any time call upon the board of directors of any society for such reports or returns, or make such inspection of the books and accounts of any society as may be necessary to ascertain whether any such deficiency or excess exists, or to ascertain the amount of any deficiency or excess, the period during which the deficiency or excess has continued and the reasons for the deficiency or excess.

(9) Any decision by the Registrar to impose a penalty in terms of this section shall be subject to appeal to the President, who shall confirm the Registrar's decision or give such other decision as in his opinion the Registrar ought to have given.

80. Evidence

Every document purporting to be certified by the Registrar to be a document deposited at his office under the provisions of this Act shall, in the absence of proof to the contrary, be deemed to be such document and every document purporting to be similarly certified to be a copy of such document shall be deemed to be a true copy thereof, and shall be received in evidence as if it were the original document, unless some variation between it and the original document is proved.

81. Penalties

(1) Any society which contravenes the provisions of section 19, 20, 22, 23, 25, 26, 28, 30, 33(1), 39, 40, 46(1), 47(1), 48, 49(1), 50, 51 or 79(1) shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding P1000.

(2) Any society which contravenes the provisions of section 29 or 43 shall be guilty of an offence, and liable to a fine not exceeding P200.

(3) Any officer of a society who contravenes any of the provisions of this Act who is knowingly a party to such contravention shall be guilty of an offence and liable to the same criminal penalties as would the society in respect of such contravention.

82. Regulations

The President may, by statutory instrument, make regulations providing for any matter which under this Act is to be provided for by regulations or prescribing all matters which by this Act are required to be prescribed or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for giving effect to or carrying out the provisions of this Act.

FIRST SCHEDULE

(Section 20)

Total assets of society as at the close of the last financial year

Maximum savings account credits

Maximum monthly repayments to any one person on fixed deposits

Under

P1 000 000

P1 000

P2 000

Between

P1 000 000

and

P2 000 000

P2 000

P4 000

Between

P2 000 000

and

P10 000 000

P4 000

P6 000

Over

P10 000 000

R6 000

P8 000

SECOND SCHEDULE

(Section 23)

Total assets of society as at the close of the last financial year

Maximum shareholding of fixed-period or subscription shares

Under

P1 000 000

P24 000

Between

P1 000 000

and

P2 000 000

P48 000

Between

P2 000 000

and

P10 000 000

P72 000

Over

P10 000 000

P96 000

THIRD SCHEDULE

(Section 32)

Total assets of society as at the close of the last financial year

Maximum percentage of advances on each of which there is owing P10 000

Not exceeding

P1 000 000

10 per cent

Not exceeding

P2 000 000

121/2 per cent

Not exceeding

P10 000 000

15 per cent

Not exceeding

P20 000 000

20 per cent

Exceeding

P20 000 000

25 per cent