Bankruptcy Act · 2009 Revised Edition · Part X · Bankruptcy Offences
135. Concealment of property
Feedback & supportLast amended by an amending law of 2005.
A bankrupt shall be guilty of an offence if —
bankrupt
“bankrupt” means —(a)the individual debtor who has been adjudged bankrupt by a bankruptcy order; or(b)where a bankruptcy order has been made against a firm, each of the partners in the firm;
he does not deliver up possession to the Official Assignee, or as the Official Assignee may direct, of such part of the property comprised in his estate as is in his possession or under his control of which he is required by law to deliver up;
Official Assignee
“Official Assignee” includes a Deputy Official Assignee, a Senior Assistant Official Assignee and an Assistant Official Assignee;
he conceals any debt due to or from him or conceals any property the value of which is not less than $500 and possession of which he is required to deliver up to the Official Assignee;
debt
“debt” means any debt, or any liability to pay money, which is unsecured, present, certain, and of an amount that is fixed or liquidated;
in the 12 months before the making of the bankruptcy application by or against him, or in the initial period, he did anything which would have been an offence under paragraph (b) if the bankruptcy order against him had been made immediately before he did it;
bankruptcy application
“bankruptcy application” means an application to the court for a bankruptcy order;
he removes, or in the initial period removed, any property the value of which is or was not less than $500 and possession of which he is or would have been required to deliver up to the Official Assignee; or
property
“property” includes money, goods, things in action, land and every description of property wherever situated and also obligations and every description of interest, whether present or future or vested or contingent, arising out of or incidental to, property;
he without reasonable excuse fails, on being required to do so by the Official Assignee or the court —
to account for the loss of any substantial part of his property incurred in the 12 months before the making of the bankruptcy application by or against him or in the initial period; or
to give a satisfactory explanation of the manner in which such a loss was incurred.