- Laws of Fiji

Last Updated: 1 August 2020

[BAN 3] Acts of bankruptcy3

(1) A debtor commits an act of bankruptcy in each of the following cases—

(a)if in Fiji or elsewhere he or she makes a conveyance or assignment of his or her property to a trustee or trustees for the benefit of his or her creditors generally;
(b)if in Fiji or elsewhere he or she makes a fraudulent conveyance, gift, delivery or transfer of his or her property, or of any part thereof;
(c)if in Fiji or elsewhere he or she makes any conveyance or transfer of his or her property, or any part thereof, or creates any charge thereon, which would under this or any other Act be void as a fraudulent preference if he or she were adjudged bankrupt;
(d)if with intent to defeat or delay his or her creditors he or she does any of the following things, namely, departs out of Fiji, or being out of Fiji remains out of Fiji, or departs from his or her dwelling-house, or otherwise absents himself or herself, or begins to keep house, or removes his or her property or any part thereof beyond the jurisdiction of the court;
(e)if execution against him or her has been levied by seizure of his or her goods in any civil proceedings in any court, and the goods have been either sold or held by the sheriff for 21 days, provided that, where an interpleader summons has been taken out in regard to the goods seized, the time elapsing between the date at which such summons is taken out and the date at which the proceedings on such summons are finally disposed of, settled or abandoned, shall not be taken into account in calculating such period of 21 days;
(f)if he or she files in the court a declaration of his or her inability to pay his or her debts or presents a bankruptcy petition against himself or herself;
(g)if a creditor has obtained a final judgment or final order against him or her for any amount, and, execution thereon not having been stayed, has served on him or her in Fiji, or, by leave of the court, elsewhere, a bankruptcy notice under this Act, and he or she does not within 7 days after service of the notice, in case the service is effected in Fiji, and in case the service is effected elsewhere, then within the time limited in that behalf by the order giving leave to effect the service, either comply with the requirements of the notice or satisfy the court that he or she has a counter-claim, set-off or cross-demand which equals or exceeds the amount of the judgment debt or sum ordered to be paid, and which he or she could not set up in the action in which the judgment was obtained, or the proceedings in which the order was obtained:
For the purposes of this paragraph and section 4, any person who is, for the time being, entitled to enforce a final judgment or final order, shall be deemed to be a creditor who has obtained a final judgment or final order;
(h)if the debtor gives notice to any of his or her creditors that he or she has suspended, or that he or she is about to suspend, payment of his or her debts.

(2) In this Act the expression “a debtor”, unless the context otherwise implies, includes any person, whether domiciled in Fiji or not, who, at the time when any act of bankruptcy was done or suffered by him or her—

(a)was personally present in Fiji; or
(b)ordinarily resided or had a place of residence in Fiji; or
(c)was carrying on business in Fiji, personally, or by means of an agent or manager; or
(d)was a member of a firm or partnership which carried on business in Fiji.