Malaysia’s Insolvency (Amendment) Act 2020 in effect from 1 September 2021

29 September 2021

On 1 September 2021, the Insolvency (Amendment) Act 2020 (“Amendment Act”) came into operation. The Amendment Act amends the Insolvency Act 1967 (“Principal Act”) which provides, among other things, conditions on which a creditor may present a bankruptcy petition against a debtor.

The key amendments under the Amendment Act are as follows:

• Amendment of section 5(1)(a) of the Principal Act to the effect that the amount of indebtedness for which a creditor may present a bankruptcy petition against a debtor is increased from RM50,000 to RM100,000; and
• A new section 5(1A) in the Principal Act provides that the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law) may, after consultation with the Minister for Finance, by order published in the Gazette, amend the amount of debt in section 5(1)(a) for the presentation of a bankruptcy petition for a specific time period, if the Minister is satisfied that there are special circumstances and that it would not be contrary to public interest, to do so.