Liquidator's duties in the rehabilitation of abandoned housing projects in peninsular Malaysia: A legal analysis

• Main Author: Md Dahlan, Nuarrual Hilal
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: K Law (General)
• Online Access: http://repo.uum.edu.my/9161/1/1.pdf; http://repo.uum.edu.my/9161/; http://submit.confbay.com/index.php?option=com_conf&acid=127&Itemid=1

The duties of the liquidator are expressly provided under the Companies Act I965 ('C4').Basically the liquidator duty in the winding up administration is to accumulate all moneys and assets of the wound up companies and then to pay off all the debts of the creditors, before ceasing the existence of the company and strike off the company's name from the company's registration roll.l%e issue in abandoned housing project in Malaysia is this: whether the liquidator of the wound up housing developer company is under an obligation to rehabilitate the abandoned housing projects? This paper finds that, it is arguable that the liquidator is duty bound to undertake rehabilitation of abandoned housing projects and to protect the rights arid interests of the aggrieved purchasers.There is no decisive case law in Malaysia that holds that the liquidator is statutorily responsible to rehabilitate abandoned housing projects and protect the rights and interests of the purchasers.The position of the liquidator is unlike the position of the trustee in bankruptcy, where the latter is obliged to act on behalf of the bankrupt person in executing and implementing the bankrupt persons' responsibilities towards any interested persons.This paper analyses the statutory provisions and the case law concerning The liquidator's duties as available under the Companies Act 1965 and the case law in Malaysia.It further emphasizes the lacunae in the law concerning the duty of the liquidator in dealing with the issue of rehabilitating abandoned housing projects and protecting the rights and interests of the purchasers.