The issue in The Royal Bank of Scotland NV v TT International Ltd [2012] SGCA 53 centered on whether a success-based professional fee arrangement should have been disclosed to the scheme creditors and the Court prior to the sanction of a scheme of arrangement.
When the debts of a bankrupt or an insolvent company are denominated in a foreign currency, the Official Assignee or liquidator would need to convert the debt into Singapore dollars when making a distribution to creditors.
The recent Singapore case of Re Lehman Brothers Finance Asia Pte Ltd (in creditors' voluntary liquidation) determined that the debts of a company in foreign currency, which had been admitted in proof by the liquidators, were to be converted at the exchange rate prevailing at the "resolution date". In this context, resolution date means the day the resolution was passed placing the company into liquidation.
This table provides an overview of the key developments in 2012 to date.
During bankruptcy proceedings, much like in corporate insolvency, there is always the concern that the debtor will dispose or transfer away his property so as to keep it out of reach of his creditors.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (Amendment) Bill ("MAS Bill") and the Financial Institutions (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill ("FI Bill") were tabled before Parliament on 4 February 2013.
The appellant ("Mdm Cheo") commenced divorce proceedings against her hubsand (the "bankrupt") two weeks after he had been served a statutory demand by a bank to pay around US$8.67 million.
The recent Court of Appeal decision in SAAG Oilfield Engineering (S) Pte Ltd v Shaik Abu Bakar bin Abdul Sukol & Anor [2012] SGCA 7 has important implications as to the scope of creditors under a scheme of arrangement under section 210 of the Companies Act.
The Singapore High Court in Yap Guat Beng v Public Prosecutor laid down the sentencing guidelines for offences of an undischarged bankrupt acting as a director or being involved in the management of a company or a business.
In establishing that a debtor had unfairly preferred one creditor over others, it was not necessary to show that the debtor knew that it was insolvent or imminently insolvent, and further that the pressure on a debtor to pay one creditor only vitiates the desire to prefer if there were good commercial reasons for the payment to be made: -- Jurong Technologies Industrial Corp Ltd (under judicial management) v Cooperatieve Centrale Raiffeisen-Boerenleenbank BA [2010] SGHC 357 (Singapore, High Court, 9 December 2010)