Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 20 · Bankruptcy Offences
406. Concealment of property
Feedback & supportA bankrupt shall be guilty of an offence if —
bankrupt
“bankrupt” means —(a)an 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;
the bankrupt does not deliver up possession to the Official Assignee, or as the Official Assignee may direct, of such part of the property comprised in the bankrupt’s estate as is in the possession or under the control of the bankrupt and which the bankrupt is required by law to deliver up;
Official Assignee
“Official Assignee” means the Official Assignee appointed under section 16(1) and includes a Deputy Official Assignee, a Senior Assistant Official Assignee and an Assistant Official Assignee;
the bankrupt conceals any debt due to or from the bankrupt or conceals any property the value of which is at least $1,000 (or such higher amount as may be prescribed) and possession of which the bankrupt is required to deliver up to the Official Assignee;
debt
“debt” means any debt, or any liability to pay money, that 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 the bankrupt, or in the initial period, the bankrupt did anything which would have been an offence under paragraph (b) if the bankruptcy order against the bankrupt had been made before the bankrupt did it;
bankruptcy application
“bankruptcy application” means an application to the Court for a bankruptcy order;
the bankrupt removes, or in the initial period removed, any property the value of which is or was at least $1,000 (or such higher amount as may be prescribed) and possession of which the bankrupt is or would have been required to deliver up to the Official Assignee; or
property
“property” includes —(a)money, goods, things in action, land and every description of property, wherever situated; and(b)obligations and every description of interest, whether present or future or vested or contingent, arising out of or incidental to property;
the bankrupt 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 the bankrupt’s property incurred in the 12 months before the making of the bankruptcy application by or against the bankrupt or in the initial period; or
to give a satisfactory explanation of the manner in which such a loss was incurred.