KOTA TINGGI: The proposed amendments to the Insolvency Act 1967, as announced in the revised 2023 Budget, will be tabled in Parliament next month.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said said the amendments to the Act would improve the administration and management of the country's bankruptcy system.
Azalina said the government estimated at least 130,000 people of the total 260,000 bankruptcy cases recorded as of early this year would be freed from bankruptcy when the amendments were passed.
"This amendment is necessary.
"We are targeting at least 130,000 people, who are mostly youths and Malays, to be freed from bankruptcy when the amendments are passed.
"We had drafted the amendments earlier. However, we will draft another round of amendments because releasing the bankrupts must be done carefully since it will affect the credit rating at Bank Negara," she told reporters after attending the financial literacy, insolvency, and legal aid clinic ceremony at Felda Tunggal Semai Bakti Hall here, today.
When tabling the 2023 Budget last month, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the government would amend the Act to enable bankrupts to be freed from bankruptcy soon.
As of January this year, Anwar said there were more than 260,000 bankruptcy cases, with the majority of them Malays, who could contribute to the nation's economy.
Azalina had said the Insolvency Department has listed three conditions for it to start the process to discharge bankrupt individuals under the government's latest initiative.
The first condition applied to those whose bankruptcy declaration had exceeded five years from the date of the acceptance order and the bankruptcy order.
Other conditions outlined by the department include that the amount of outstanding debt does not exceed RM50,000 and that there is no court order, court proceeding and/or investigation being carried out on the insolvent under the Act.