Written Answer by Minister for Law K Shanmugam to PQ on Justification for Exempting Creditors from Attending Debt Repayment Scheme Hearings
2 August 2023 Posted in Parliamentary speeches and responses
Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim (Sengkang GRC)
Question
To ask the Minister for Law (a) what is the justification for allowing creditors to be exempt from attending Debt Repayment Scheme hearings; and (b) whether the Ministry will consider making such attendance by creditors mandatory in the future.
Written Answer:
1. Under the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018, the Official Assignee (OA) must convene a meeting of creditors (Meeting) to review the debtor’s debt repayment plan before approving it.
2. This allows the debtor and the creditors to express their views or raise objections to the proposed debt repayment plan before the plan is approved.
3. Any creditor who is named in a debtor’s statement of affairs may choose to attend the Meeting. There is however no legal requirement to do so.
- Creditors can also submit written questions or raise any objections he or she may have on the proposed debt repayment plan for the OA’s consideration.
- The current system allows for the views of both the debtor and the creditors to be taken into account while giving the creditor the flexibility to decide if he or she wishes to attend a Meeting. There is, therefore, no need to mandate the creditor’s attendance at the Meeting.
Last updated on 2 August 2023