XN000022-1996-06-05 — Page 59

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According to the records of the Official Receiver's Office, the longest time taken to complete a compulsory liquidation is 241⁄2 years. A winding up order against the company concerned was made in November 1971 and an order granting the Official Receiver's release from the liquidatorship was made in May 1996. The major exceptional reasons for the time taken for this particular case are as follows:

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

the case involved a complicated legal dispute, relating to the unsettled assignment of 47 flats, between the company concerned and the petitioning creditors, who were directors of the company's joint-venture partner;

the need to obtain funding to sue the joint-venture partner for specific performance in respect of the assignment of the properties and the lengthy litigation in the High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Privy Council before the appeal of the joint-venture partner was ultimately dismissed:

the deaths of the three directors of the joint-venture partner causing delays in the clarification of the joint-venture's accounts, the settlement of taxed costs of the Privy Council appeal and the disposal of the unsold flats of the joint venture; and

the need to wind up the joint-venture partner to clear the unsettled issues as set out in (c) above.

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