Nancy: Amendments to Bankruptcy Act in final stage

The amendments include the provision to help social guarantors who were also declared bankrupt by money lending agencies for loans taken by borrowers.

KUALA LUMPUR: The process of making amendments to the Bankruptcy Act 1967 to help individuals who were declared bankrupt is now in the final stage, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nancy Shukri told the Dewan Negara today.

She said the amendment includes the provision to help social guarantors who were also declared bankrupt by money lending agencies for loans taken by borrowers.

“That is among the amendments we made to the act, besides finding alternatives to discharge someone of bankruptcy,” she said in reply to Senator Prof Dr Sim Kui Hian during question time.

Dr Sim had urged the authorities to find ways to help borrowers, as well as their guarantors, who were declared bankrupt, including by allowing them to withdraw their Employees Provident Fund (EPF) savings to settle their debts and get discharged of bankruptcy.

Elaborating further, Nancy said the proposal would be taken into consideration by the Department of Insolvency.

Nancy said that between 2010 and October this year, 11,159 individuals were declared bankrupt, 60.8 percent of whom were social guarantors.

As such, she also advised individuals who were declared bankrupt not to ignore the order to appear in court because they might be able to resolve the issue.

“There are cases that do not even involve a huge amount of money that qualifies them to be declared as bankrupt. If they can explain this in court, they may be discharged of bankruptcy,” she added.

– BERNAMA