Section 19: Offences

(1) If any person, for the purpose of procuring the registration of any name, qualification or other matter-
(a) makes a statement which he believes to be false in a material particular; or
(b)
recklessly makes a statement which is false in a material particular,
he shall be guilty of an offence.
(2) If, on or after the relevant date, any person who is not a member of the Institute practices or holds himself out to practice as a tax administrator or practitioner for or in expectation of reward or takes or uses any name, title, addition or description implying that he is in tax practice, he shall be guilty of an offence; provided that, in the case of a person falling within section 15 of this Act-
(a) this subsection shall not apply in respect of anything done by him during the period of three months mentioned in that section; and
(b) if within that period he duly applies for membership of the Institute then, unless within that period he is notified that his application has not been approved, this subsection shall not apply in respect of any thing done by him between the end of that period and the date on which he is registered or is notified as aforesaid.
(3) If the Registrar or any other person employed by or on behalf of the Institute wilfully makes any falsification in any matter relating to the register, he shall be guilty of an offence.
(4) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable-
(a) on summary conviction, to a fine of an amount not exceeding N100;
(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine of an amount not exceeding N1,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to both such fine and imprisonment.
(5) Where an offence under this section which has been committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to, any neglect on the part of any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate or any person purporting to act in any such capacity, he, as well as the body corporate, shall be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
(6) In this section, "the relevant date" means the third anniversary of the coming into force of this Act or such earlier date as may be prescribed for the purposes of this section by order of the Minister published in the Gazette.