Section 834A — Corporations Act 2001: Exercise of directors’ powers while body corporate under statutory management

Powers of directors while body corporate under statutory management (1) While a body corporate is under statutory management, a director of the body must not perform or exercise a function or power of a director. Offence (2) A person commits an offence if: (a) the person is a director of a body corporate; and (b) the body corporate is under statutory management; and (c) the person purports to perform or exercise a function or power of a director. Exceptions (3) Subsections (1) and (2) do not apply to the extent that the director of the body corporate is acting with the written approval of the statutory manager of the body corporate or the Reserve Bank. Note: A defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matter in this subsection: see subsection 13.3(3) of the Criminal Code. Reserve Bank may revoke or vary the approval (4) If a statutory manager (other than the Reserve Bank) gives written approval for the purposes of subsection (3), the statutory manager must immediately notify the Reserve Bank in writing. (5) The Reserve Bank may decide to revoke or vary the approval. The Reserve Bank’s decision takes effect from the time the director is notified of the decision in writing. Functions and powers of statutory manager prevail in case of conflict (6) If: (a) subsection (3) applies; and (b) there is a conflict between: (i) a function or power of the statutory manager of the body corporate; and (ii) a function or power of the director in relation to the body corporate; the statutory manager’s function or power prevails. Effect of this section (7) This section does not remove a director of a body corporate from office. (8) Nothing in this section affects a secured creditor’s right to realise or otherwise deal with a security interest.