Pihak kami menyeru semua para bangkrup agar hadir ke mana-mana pejabat insolvensi negeri bagi memudahkan pihak jabatan untuk memberikan penerangan dan penjelasan serta membuat beberapa keterangan berkenaan hutang-hutang yg tertunggak. dengan berkerjasama dengan pihak insolvensi peluang untuk para bangkrup di lepaskan sekiranya pindaan undang-undang yg berkaitan dapat di bentangkan di parlimen dan di luluskan.
Reducing time for bankrupts to be discharged
Posted on 14 June 2012 - 03:23pm
Last updated on 14 June 2012 - 05:36pm
Last updated on 14 June 2012 - 05:36pm
KUALA LUMPUR (June 14, 2012): The government is looking into the possibility of reducing the time for bankrupts to be discharged under a review on current insolvency laws.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said existing provisions under the Bankruptcy Act 1967 allows the director-general to issue a certificate to discharge a bankrupt.
The law also provides for a bankrupt to apply to the court for an order of discharge.
"There is already sufficient mechanism in place for a bankrupt to be discharged within a short time if the person is sincere and cooperates well with the director-general in handling the case.
"However, we are studying the suitability of using methods and concepts to give an automatic discharge after a certain period, based on certain conditions, like those being practised in other countries.
"This is in line with the global insolvency trend now which is more facilitative and cost-effective," he said in reply to a question from William Leong (PKR-Selayang).
Under Section 33A of the act, the director-general shall not issue a certificate discharging a bankrupt from bankruptcy unless a period of five years has lapsed since the date he was adjudged a bankrupt.
William said this defeats the purpose of having a bankruptcy law which he said should provide a second chance to bankrupts, rather than imposing a fine on them.
"While companies and firms in trouble could be bailed out or get corporate restructuring without any time limit, a bankrupt who did nothing wrong has to wait for five years.
"Bankrupts could not settle their loans maybe due to business failure, recession, loss of job or no payment sources. It is not fair to fine them for five years," he said.
Leong said the automatic discharge period for a bankrupt in Australia is three years, United Kingdom 12 months, Canada nine months and the United States four months.
To Leong's original question, Nazri said until April this year, the number of bankrupt cases governed by the Insolvency Department is 241,740.
However, since Leong's question was on the number of bankruptcies, breakdown according to age group and causes of bankruptcies, he said these details were only compiled since 2005.
From 2005 until April, there were 116,379 bankruptcy cases and of this, the biggest group is from 35 to 44 years old at 37,493 (32%).
Other groups are 45 – 54 years at 30,910 (27%), 25 – 34 years at 21,353 (18%), 55 years above at 14,378 (12%), 25 years below at 1,617 (1%).
Among the cause of bankruptcies are vehicle hire-purchase loans (29,338), personal loans (15,299), housing loans (14,327), business loans (13,107), corporate guarantors (6,127), social guarantors (6,163) and credit card debts (5,735).
