The Companies Judge annulled a bankruptcy order against our client, concerning a judgment debt exceeding HK$90 million. This ruling, under HCB 3372/2024, addresses key issues related to jurisdiction and due process in insolvency proceedings.

The bankruptcy petition was issued against our client, who resides in Mainland China and Australia. A review of the court documents shows that the bankruptcy order should never have been made. Key reasons include:

1. There is no jurisdiction to grant the bankruptcy order as our client was not an ordinary resident in Hong Kong and had not been in Hong Kong for a single day since almost three years preceding the petition.

2. The substituted service order for the bankruptcy petition should be set aside for material non-disclosure e.g. the petitioner did not disclose our client’s foreign addresses known to the petitioner.

3. The petitioner failed to do all reasonable steps to bring the relevant statutory demand to our client’s attention.

In open court, The Honourable Madam Justice Linda Chan granted our client’s application, ruling that the bankruptcy order shall be annulled. The Judge emphasized that the bankruptcy order should not have been made in the first place, and that the status quo ante shall be restored.

Consequently, costs arising from the bankruptcy order, as well as fees and expenses incurred by the trustees and the Official Receiver, will not be charged to our client. The learned Judge also approved our legal costs in full, expressly that our claimed amount is reasonable.

This case is led by our Partner Mr. Mathew Liu, assisted by our Litigation Associate Ms. Crystal Yip. Our Litigation Department has extensive experience representing both petitioners and respondents as well as insolvency practitioners as liquidators in bankruptcy and winding-up proceedings, frequently attending the Companies Court.