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The Official Receiver's Office administers the estates of individuals
adjudged to be bankrupt by the court. The estates of companies ordered
to be wound up by the court are administrated by insolvency practitioners
from the private sector.
The Official Receiver or the insolvency practitioner
appointed by him under a tendering scheme becomes the receiver of an individual
debtor or provisional liquidator of a company when a bankruptcy order
against the property of the debtor is made or a winding-up order against
the company is made. Where the assets of an estate do not exceed $200,000,
the Official Receiver or the insolvency practitioner appointed by him
is usually appointed the trustee or the liquidator by way of a summary
procedure order. In other cases, a meeting of creditors in bankruptcy,
or meetings of creditors and contributories in compulsory liquidations,
will be convened to decide whether the Official Receiver, the insolvency
practitioner appointed by him or some other fit persons from the private
sector should be appointed the trustee or liquidator.
When acting as the trustee or liquidator, the Official
Receiver or the insolvency practitioner appointed by him investigates
the affairs of the bankrupt or the wound-up company, realises assets and
distributes dividends to creditors. The Official Receiver also prosecutes
certain offences set out in the Bankruptcy and Companies Ordinances, applies
for disqualification orders against unfit company directors, supervises
the work of outside liquidators and trustees, and monitors the funds held
by liquidators in both compulsory and voluntary liquidations.
During the year, the court made 24 922 bankruptcy
orders, 2 743 interim orders in individual voluntary arrangements and
1 248 winding-up orders. The assets realised by the Official Receiver
during 2003 amounted to $136.4 million, while $115.9 million in dividends
was paid to creditors in 1 690 insolvency cases. There were 1 207cases
assigned under the scheme for contracting out of summary winding-up cases.
The Companies (Corporate Rescue) Bill, which was introduced
into the Legislative Council in May 2001, aims to put in place a statutory
corporate rescue procedure for companies in financial difficulty. The
Legislative Council has set up a Bills Committee to examine the bill.
In the light of the comments expressed by the Bills Committee, the Government
has conducted a further round of consultation with concerned parties and
is considering possible changes to certain provisions in the bill. |
