Ukraine plans to introduce a mechanism for concealing the threat of insolvency. This conclusion was made by a retired judge of the Supreme Commercial Court of Ukraine, Counsel, Attorney of ADER HABER Law Firm Oleksandr UDOVYCHENKO, commenting on the intentions of the parliament to amend the Bankruptcy Procedure Code of Ukraine concerning the introduction of temporary mechanisms for the quarantine period.
According to the expert, the extension for 90 days after the end of the quarantine period, in which the debtor must notify the court of the insolvency, will lead to the fact that unscrupulous debtors will hide their bankruptcy.
«Applying with such a statement of the debtor to the court does not even require additional costs from the debtor, so the feasibility of the proposed innovation is quite questionable, and its consequencesimplementationwill be negative both for the creditor and for the debtor “, – assured the lawyer.
Also, according to Alexander Udovichenko, subject to the extension of bankruptcy proceedings during the crisis, the very fact of opening a new case does not bear for the debtor the threat of liquidation. At the same time, the introduction of external oversight by the arbitral trustee and judicial review provides more safeguards against abuse.
“As we have all observed in recent years, the abuse of a moratorium and other preferences by debtors has occurred much more frequently than the abuse of creditors,” – he said.
Moratorium According to O. Udovychenko, the opening of new proceedings should have been introduced at the beginning of the pandemic and quarantine.
“These amendments are reminiscent of the situation with the introduction of checkpoints to measure the temperature at the entrance to Kiev: first, hundreds of thousands of people from Europe, where there was already a pandemic, were launched into Ukraine without any measuring the temperature “,- he added.
Therefore, the judge assumes that nand at this stage of drafting amendments to the Code, political expediency prevails over the desire to professionally improve the legislation.
“It is possible that such changes in the parliament are trying to” promote “the owners of one or more large enterprises. Ask who are the authors of the bill from among the deputies. There may be an answer. “– summed up the expert.