Nancy: Bankrupts can seek help from Insolvency Department KUCHING: People who have been declared bankrupt can seek help from the Insolvency Department. Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nancy Shukri said the government has a scheme to help those who have been declared bankrupt by coming forward to the department. She explained that the department is not the one declaring the person bankrupt but the bank where the person took out a loan. “The Insolvency Department is an administrator and if those declared bankrupt come forward to us, we try to get them out from bankruptcy as fast as possible, especially the youngsters who, due to mismanagement of their financial situation, were declared bankrupt,” said Nancy when met at her Hari Raya open house yesterday. She added that for the youngsters, it happened due to immaturity in handling their own finance while for civil servants, due to pressure. For the old folks, they got into the situation due to their children or by becoming a guarantor for other people. She pointed out that most people do not approach the department due to the stigma attached to bankruptcy, but the department can help them get out fast if they comply. When asked about how bad the situation for Sarawak is, she said it was not bad, but she did not have the figures on hand. However, 30 per cent have approached department to work it out with the creditors. “Another amendment to the Insolvency Act is coming up to shorten the time and we will update later when we bring it up in Parliament. Now we are preparing the Cabinet paper to circulate, trying to help those who are bankrupt. “We are also looking at the mechanism before a person is declared bankrupt, for the financial institutions to help them not get bankrupt yet. We try to sit down with financial institutions to see how they can help.” She said that the financial institutions had come forward to see how they can help but she was not in the position to disclose anything yet. “We start with the small ones and see the success of it before we can disclose and maybe publicise it (how financial institution can help).” BP 11/8/13
Posted on: Sun, 11 Aug 2013 03:17:48 +0000
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