SECRETARY FOR JUSTICE v. HO CHE MING

HCB6187/2007

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

IN BANKRUPTCY

NO. 6187 OF 2007

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D E C I S I O N

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1.  This is a petition for bankruptcy presented against Mr Ho Che-ming by the Department of Justice.  The amount of the petition debt does not appear to be particularly large, standing at HK$30,000.  It has, however, been outstanding for some considerable time.  Mr Ho opposes the making of a bankruptcy petition on the basis that he wishes to pay the debt by instalments.

2.  I asked Mr Ho today what proposal he had made.  He indicated that his proposal for repayment was to repay $10,000 initially, followed by monthly instalments of $2,000 per month thereafter.  This would mean that the entire debt would, if the proposal were accepted, be repaid over a period of some 14 months.

3.  The petitioner is not prepared to accept the proposal and I have been told by Miss Choi, and Mr Ho does not deny, that there have been a number of proposals for payments by instalment in the past, but that all of these proposals, which had been accepted by the petitioner, had come to nothing as Mr Ho had been unable to honour his obligations under the proposals for repayment which he had put forward in the past.

4.  Although the amounts involved are not particularly large, it does appear that the debtor does not have any means out of which to repay the debt.  He has admitted that he is currently unemployed, has no fixed employment and has no steady income.  For the initial repayment of $10,000 which has been proposed, he has indicated that that is money that he has either borrowed or will have to borrow from another source in order to effect that partial repayment.

5.  In all of the circumstances, it does not seem to me that the petitioner’s refusal of the proposal can be said in any way to be unreasonable, having regard to the previous track record of the debtor in relation to similar repayment proposals in the past and having regard to his apparent financial position, with no fixed income and no apparent substantial source of funds out of which to effect the repayments proposed.

6.  In the circumstances, it seems to me that, as the debtor is clearly unable to meet his debts and has admitted this debt, the appropriate course in this case would be to make the usual bankruptcy order with costs against the debtor.