| (1) | The Council must after considering the investigation report charge the registered person with improper conduct if the Council is convinced that sufficient grounds exist for such a charge to be made against such a registered person. |
| (2) | The Council must, by hand or registered mail, deliver to a registered person who is charged with misconduct a charge sheet setting out the details and nature of the charge together with a copy of the investigation report. |
| (3) | The Council must inform the registered person charged— |
| (a) | that he or she must, in writing, admit or deny the charge; |
| (b) | that he or she may, together with the admission or denial, submit a written explanation regarding the improper conduct with which he or she is charged; and |
| (c) | of the period, which must be reasonable, within which his or her plea in terms of paragraph (a) and explanation in terms of paragraph (b) may be submitted to the Council. |
| (4) | The Council may, if a registered person charged— |
| (a) | has admitted that he or she is guilty of the charge; and |
| (b) | the sanctions contemplated in subparagraphs (i) and (ii) of section 23(3)(a) may be imposed in respect of such charge, |
find such registered person guilty without referring the charge to a disciplinary tribunal and may impose an appropriate sanction.
| (5) | The acquittal or the conviction of a registered person by a court of law on a criminal charge is not a bar to conduct proceedings against him or her under this Act on a charge of improper conduct, even if the facts stated in the charge of improper conduct would, if proved, constitute the offence stated in the criminal charge on which he or she was acquitted or convicted or any other offence of which he or she might have been acquitted or convicted at his or her trial on the criminal charge. |
