Bankruptcy Bill sent to JSC

The bill revises the law on bankruptcy and insolvency for corporate and individual cases. It emphasises the rehabilitation of the insolvent debtor and creates a new office of supervisor of insolvency.

Leader of the Opposition Kamla Persad-Bissessar, in an apparently conciliatory move, nominated Independent MP Gerald Yetming as one of two Opposition MPs to sit on the JSC.

She asked whether the bill would address cases where a debtor had obtained money by fraud. Saying banks were the main culprits who bankrupt people in Trinidad and Tobago, she asked if the bill covers these institutions.

“Banks are like a club, a lodge, a cabal,” she said to the amusement of all at her use of a political term currently in vogue.

Minister of Trade, Ken Valley, replied that banks get protection under a different act which governs financial institutions.