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[1977] FCA 72
Federal Court of Australia
1977-07-01
Deane J
Original judgment source is linked above.
Bankruptcy - Application for permission to leave Australia - s. 178 - when Court will interfere with trustee's decision - ss.77(a), 272 - when bankrupt's desires to be subordinated
Theodore Valentine De Vere Tyndall Ex parte the Bankrupt
DEANE J: The applicant, Theodore Valentine De Vere Tyndall,
is a bankrupt. Pursuant to the provisions of the Bankruptcy Act 1966 ("the Act"), a sequestration order was made in respect of his estate on the 13th April, 1976. The Official Receiver became, by virtue of the provisions of s.160 of the Act, and
has remained, the trustee of the applicant's bankrupt estate.
Subsequent to the making of the sequestration order, the applicant, as required by the provisions of s.77(a) of the Act, delivered his current passport to the Official Receiver. As a result of the making of the sequestration order the
applicant was, by reason of the provisions of s.272 of the Act,
constrained, under a maximum penalty of imprisonment for twelve
months, from leaving Australia without the consent in writing
of the Official Receiver as trustee of his bankrupt estate.
On the 21st July, 1977, the applicant wrote a letter to the Official Receiver in which he stated, inter alia, that he had prospects of improving his earning rate "by accepting brief overseas assignments" and that he "would now wish to take advantage of such offers if available". The letter referred to an attached letter from "Olympic Finance" and concluded with an application "for permission to renew my passport" (sic). Enclosed with the letter from the applicant was a letter from a company, Olympic Finance & Insurance Corporation Limited, which was dated 20th July, 1977 and, omitting formal parts,
Further to my recent instructions please note that:
lt. It ts possible as the vesult of our discusstons with Hr. Maramis of Indonesia and wtth Mr. Read relative to the Hataystan borrowings that we will be required to visit both those countrtes in the foreseeable near fvture.
In view of these developments we would therefore commend you to make your travelling papers in order, conplete the appropriate arrangements and be pre- pared to reeeive our instructions when these are received, in turn, from our eltent.
Please confirm that you are taking action in this matter not Later than 14 days from the daie of this letter".
The letter was signed on behalf of Olympic Finance & Insurance
Corporation Limited by Mr. Dean Wentworth who was described
The Official Receiver apparently treated the applicant's request for "permission to renew" his passport as being, in the context of the enclosed letter from Olympic Finance & Insurance Corporation Limited, an application for his written
consent to the applicant's leaving Australia. His response
was brief and to the point. On the 27th July, 1977, he
wrote to the applicant a letter which, again omitting formal
2977 and advise that I wttl not give you permissron to leave Australia".
On the 12th September, 1977 the applicant lodged this
from the Court, that the applicant "be permitted to leave
Australia and that accordingly his passport be returned to
Upon the hearing of the application, 1t became apparent
that the question of the return of the passport was a subsidiary question depending upon whether, in fact, it was appropriate
that an order be made permitting the applicant to leave
Mr. Urquhart who appeared for the Official Receiver
expressly stated that, in the event that an order was made
by the Court permitting the applicant to leave Australia, the
Official Receiver would return his passport without the need
application to the Court was an application pursuant to the
provisions of s.178 of the Act. That section proyides as
"If the bankrupt, a creditor or any other person is offected by an act, omission or deciston of the trustee, he may apply Lo the Court, and the Court may make sueh order in the matter as it thinks just and equitable".
number of amportant respects, fron the provisions of s.148 of
the Bankruptcy Act 1924. Section 148 of the Bankruptcy Act
"If the bankrupt or any of the creditors or any other person ts aggrieved by any aet ov decision of the trustee, he may apply to the Court, and the Court may confirm, reverse, or modify the act or decision complained of, and make such order in the matter as it thinks just". .
The provisions of the old s.148 corresponded closely with comparable provisions of English bankruptcy legislation. It was established that, under these English provisions, the courts would only interfere with the decision of a trustee if
jt appeared that the trustee was acting unreasonably or in bad
faith (see, e.g., In re Peters, Ex parte Lloyd (1882) 47
L.T. 64 at 65; In re a Debtor, Ex parte the Debtor v. Dodwell,
L.R. (1949) Ch. 236 at 241 and Leon v. York-O-Matic Ltd.
(1966) 1 W.L.R. 1450 at 1454-5). The principles laid dow in such decisions were stated, in at least two Australian cases, to be applicable to the provisions of s.148 of the Bankruptcy
Act 1924 (see per Clyne J., in Re Carsen, Ex parte Carson
(1960) 19 A.B.C. 108 at 122 and in Re Hall, (1957) 20 A.B.C.
21 at 29). "Phe differences between the wording of s.148 of
the Bankruptcy Act 1924 and the wording of s.178 of the present Act clearly makes it impossible, however, to regard what was said in any of those English or Australian cases as being
automatically applicable to an application pursuant to the
The critical differences in wording between s.148 of the 1924 Act and s.178 of the present Act are that the present Act does not require that the applicant be a person "aggrieved" as did the previous Act and the English bankruptcy legislation and that the present Act does not make the focal point of the jurisdiction the confirming, reversing or modifying of "the act or decision complained of". Under s.178, the bankrupt, a creditor or any other person affected by an act, omission or decision of the trustee 1s empowered to apply to the Court.
The express requirement that the applicant be a person "aggrieved" no longer exists. Nor is the Court, in express terms, required to approach the matter on the basis that the appropriate
question is whether "the act or decision complained of" should
be confirmed, reversed or modified. Once the matter is properly before the Court, the Court is empowered - and obliged - to
make such order in the matter "as it thinks just and equitable".
It was strongly submitted by Mr. Urquhart for the Official Receiver that, notwithstanding the variation in wording, the authorities on the English legislation and the statements by Clyne J., to the effect that those authorities were applicable to the provisions of s.148 of the Bankruptcy Act 1924,should lead me to conclude that, in an application under s.178, "the Court should only interfere with the relevant act, omission or Gecision of the trustee if it appeared that the trustee had acted absurdly or unreasonably or in bad faith. I have reached the conclusion that this submission cannot be accepted. In my view, the wording of s.178 of the Act 1S such
as to confer upon the Court the widest possible discretion as to the appropriate order which should be made in the particular case and 1s quite inconsistent with'the approach that, upon
an application made pursuant to the section by a bankrupt, creditor or other person affected by an act, omission or decision of the trustee, the Court is only empowered to interfere with the trustee's act, omission or decision 1f it .is of the view that the trustee has acted absurdly or unreasonably or in bad faith. Once the matter is properly before the Court, the
Court is, by the express words of s.178, empowered (and, as I have said, cbliged) to make such order in the matter as it
This is not, of course, to say that the Court should either disregard the relevant decision of the trustee or ignore the well established policy under bankruptcy legislation that the Court should not unduly interfere with the day to day admin- istration of a bankrupt's estate by a trustee. The trustee is made responsible for the administration of the bankrupt estate under the general provisions of the Act. He must, in the course of that administration, make a variety of decisions aimed at enabling the administration to be carried out with promptness and efficiency. Some of these decisions will be business or commercial decisions in which the business or commercial experience of the trustee would itself provide a basis for arguing that, unless it were shown that the trustee's decision
e was perverse or clearly wrong, it would be inappropriate and
unjust for the Court to interfere. Again, under the present legislation, the trustee will ordinarily be the Official
Receiver and the Court must be conscious of the fact that the
Official Receiver will be made responsible for the administration of an extraordinarily large number of estates. In such circum- stances, the administration of the Bankruptcy Act demands that the Court take unto account, 1n exercising its functions under the provisions of s.178 of the Act, the opinion of the Official Receiver, as trustee, as to what is expedient in the interests of the prompt and efficient administration of a particular bankrupt estate. That is, however, a completely different thing to saying that the Court can only interfere with an act, omission or decision of the Official Receiver, as such trustee, when it is of the view tht the Official Receiver has acted unreasonably, absurdly or in bad faithiin so acting or failing
I pass now to the consideration of the particular matters which are relevant to the determination of the application before me. It can be said at once that I do not regard a decision by the trustee on an application by a bankrupt for permission to travel overseas as coming within the category of decision which should be treated as being within the ordinary day to day administration of a bankrupt estate. Even though applications for such leave are not uncommon, they must always be treated as being of fundamental importance requiring careful consideration of all relevant circumstances for the reason that they are ordinarily related to the freedom of a subject, who is neither a criminal nor under
criminal restraint, to travel to pursue his legitimate commercial
As has been said, the sequestration order in respect of the estate of the applicant was made on the 13th April,
on the petition, the only amount received by the Official Receiver, as trustee, has been an amount of $1730.15 represent-
After the making of the sequestration order, the applicant was concerned in two transactions which, on the face
According to the affidavit of the Official Receiver filed in these proceedings, a proof of debt of a Mr. Allan Gordon Greig disclosed that $5000.00 was lodge@ to the credit of the bankrupt's bank account on 15th April, 1976, that is to say, two days after the sequestration order was made. The applicant's evidence, before me, as regards this particular transaction was vague and somewhat unsatisfactory. Assuming the amount was so lodged, it is clear that it never came to the hands of the Official Receiver aS the applicant's trustee in
The second transaction was in relation to an amount. of $8000.00 which was lodged by a company called Kuranga Pty.
Limited on an interest-bearing deposit on lst July, 1976, that
is to say, over two months after the applicant was made bankrupt.
An agreement was signed by the applicant and his son, Jonathan Balchin Tyndall, in respect of this deposit. That document stated that the applicant and his son acknowledged receipt of the cheque for the sum of $8000.00 and that such funds were received as a thirty day deposit bearing interest at 9 3/4% per annum. It also stated that the agreement was made "on the basis that the commitment will be transferred to and taken up by Tyndall Sons Balchin De Vere & Company Limited presently being incorporated in Victoria" of which company it was stated that the applicant and his son were to be the directors. In his evidence before me, the applicant denied that he ever received the sum of $8000.00 referred to 1n the document and said that the amount was received by his son. His explanation of the terms of the document which he had signed was, in
effect, that he had never read it. Again, his evidence was,
The sequestration order made in respect of the estate of the applacant in April, 1976 was not the first such order which had been made. A sequestration order had been made in respect of the estate of the applicant in February, 1966. His bankruptcy, on that occasion, was annulled on the 15th August, 1969 after an offer of composition was accepted by creditors and approved by the Court. The relevance of the previous sequestration order to the present matter 1s that it would tend to indicate cither that the applicant was aware of the general obligations and restrictions arising upon the
making of a sequestration order or that he was indifferent, in ' a situation where two such orders had been made against him,
to ascertaining precisely what those obligations and restrict-
ions were. Assuming initial indifference to the ascertainment
of the nature of such restrictions and obligations, nothing
in the evidence before me would justify the conclusion that
the applicant's approach has, in any way, changed. Assuming awareness of such restrictions and obligations, the applicant's conduct since the making of the sequestration order is such as
to indicate a certain Lack of enthusiasm in the observance of
Since shortly after the sequestration order was made, the applicant has been associated with Olympic Finance & Insurance Corporation Limited in what has been described as "merchant banking activities". The precise nature of the arrangement between himself and that Company has not been dis- closed. It would seem that he is not an employee since no tax instalment deductions have been made from his earnings.
It would seem that he is not merely a consultant since the evidence indicates that the "contacts" used in his merchant banking activities are his own rather than those of that Company. Whatever be the formal relationship hetween the applicant and that Company, his activities have, apparently, consisted of arranging loans for "clients" of that Company through "contacts" of either that Company or himself.
The affidavit of the Official Receiver indicates that a public examination of the applicant was held on the 14th July, 1977. In the course of that examination, the applicant indicated that since 23rd August, 1976 he had received
$13,871.16 "subject to audit" from Olympic Finance & Insurance Corporation Limited. The evidence before me indicated that in the preceding fifty six veeks to the date of hearing he.had earned approximately $16,000.00. These earnings were, however, largely not paid to the applicant. According to the applicant, a large part of them was paid to his wife and family at his request to cover living expenses. He said, however, that it was "totally incorrect" to say that the moneys had been paid to the applicant's wife rather than to himself because of the possibility that the Official Receiver might make a claim if the applicant received them. Mr. Wentworth, the "resident partner" of Olympic Finance & Insurance Corporation Limited, gave evidence before me that a large part of the applicant's earnings had been paid, at his request, to a company. Again, the details of what occurred are unclear. The one thing that is cléar is that, at the time of hearing of this application, the only contribution which has been made from these earnings to the Official Receiver as trustee of his estate was an amount of $40.00 which was paid last July. As Mr. Urquhart mentioned in the course of his final submissions before me, the carcum- stances are such as to warrant careful consideration heing
given by the Official Receiver to the making of an application
to the Court pursuant to the provisions of s.131 of the Act.
The applicant's wife has apparently been the bene- ficiary of amounts other than amounts earned by the applicant from his activities with Olympic Finance & Insurance Corporation Limited. The affidavit of Mr. Bluett discloses that, in the course of his publac examination, the applicant indicated that when he was moving out of the business premises he had occupied he, on occasions, directed his clients 'to pay commissions which
were then due to him to his wife. Again, this is a matter which the Official Receiver, as trustee, may legitimately desire to
The evidence as to the precise reason why the applicant needs permission to travel overseas is, upon analysis, as vague and unsatisfactory as 1s the evidence in relation to so many other matters. The original application to the Official Receiver was on the basis that "there are prospects of improving my earning rate by accepting brief overseas assignments". There was no suggestion that permission to travel overseas was necessary if the applicant was to retain his present association with Olympic Finance & Insurance Corporation Limited. The basis vpon which the application was pressed before me was that it was essential, if the applicant were to retain that association, that he be permitted to travel overseas from time to time in connection with arranging loans through overseas "contacts" (which were mainly the applicant's) to clients of Olympic Finance & Insurance Corporation Limited. There was one such proposed trip presently in mind. The evidence in relation to it had a degree of internal variety both as to the number of clients whom it was proposed the applicant would be representing, the payment which he would be entitled to receive and the basis upon which he would be engaged to act. The resident partner of Olympic Finance & Insurance Corporation Limited (Mr. Dean Wentworth} having given evidence that the proposed trip was on behalf of three definite clients was first reluctant and then unable to give evadence as to the identity
1 am persuaded that both the applicant and Olympic Finance & Insurance Corporation Limited desire the applicant to travel overseas in connection with the functions which the applicant is currently performing for that company. I am also persuaded that both the applicant and Mr. Wentworth of Olympic Finance
& Insurance Corporation Limited believe that such overseas travelling by the applicant would be to the financial advantage of both the applicant and that Company. Whether they are correct in this view is, of course, a matter of speculation,
I am not persuaded that, as matters at present stand, the creditors in the bankrupt estate of the applicant could expect to benefit from such financial advantages accruing to the applicant in excess of the $40.00 per month which the applicant has at present undertaken to pay to the Official Receiver. If the application were for leave to make but one particular cover- seas trip of two to three weeks' duration, it may well be that it 1s difficult to see how the administration of the applicant's bankrupt estate would be adversely affected by such a trip.
The application is not however in respect of a single projected journey; 1t is, in effect, an application to travel overseas whenever the applicant's association with Olympic Finance &
Insurance Corporation Limited requires him so to travel.
Mx. Urquhart for the Official Receiver has informed me that the applicant's public examination has not been completed and that it 1s proposed, before completing the applicant's public examination, to examine other witnesses. The evidence before me fully justifies this approach. Mr. Urguhart also informed me that consideration is being given to an application being made pursuant to the provisions of s.131 of the Bankruptcy Act. Again, the evidence before me
fully justiSics careful consideration heing given to the making of such an application. 'The Official Receiver takes the view that to grant to the applicant permission to leave Australia whenevex desirable in the performance of his activities with Olympic Finance & Insurance Corporation Limited could seriously hinder the prompt and proper administration of his bankrupt estate. On the evidence before me, I am satisfied that the
Official Receiver is fully justified in taking that approach.
Notwithstanding the considerations weighing against the applicant to which reference has been made above, the question whether, in all the circumstances, the applicant should be given permission to leave Australia whenver the performance of has functions with Olympic Finance & Insurance Corporation Limited requires him so to do is not free of difficulty. It is only in recent years that the Commonwealth Bankruptcy legislation has made it an offence for a bankrupt to travel overseas without the consent of his trustee and has required a bankrupt to surrender his passport to his trustee once a sequestration order is made. Bankruptcy does not, of itself, involve any criminal offence. A citizen should be free to travel if and when his commercial activities or personal desires prompt him so to do. Restrictions upon such travel under the bankruptcy legislation must be seen as being aimed at insuring the proper administration of the bankruptcy laws and of bankrupt estates under such laws and not as a penalty imposed upon a citizen as a consequence of inability to pay debts leading to the making of a sequestration order. In some cases, the possibility that the bankrupt has committed offences under the Act and is seeking to abscond from possible prosecution will be extremely relevant. There has not, however, in this case
been any suggestion that the bankrupt 1s endeavouring to abscond to avoid possible prosecution. In some cases the financial rewards to be derived by the bankrupt's cstate from such over~ seas travel will clearly outweigh any 1nconvenience in the administration of that estate resulting from the bankrupt's departure from the jurisdiction. This is net, however, such
a case for the reason that, as I have said, I am unconvinced that the bankrupt estate of the applicant could be expected
to benefit over and beyond the $40.00 per month which the bankrupt has currently undertaken to pay to the trustee. In some cases, the requirements of the prompt and efficient administration of the estate of the bankrupt and the administrat- ion of the Act will justify the refusal to grant leave to
Taking into account all the circumstances of the present matter, I have reached the conclusion that, in the present stage of administration of the applicant's bankrupt estate, I should not grant the leave which he seeks. The provisions of s.77({a) and s.272 of the Act 'recoqnize that a bankrupt's legitimate desires to travel overseas must, in an appropriate case, be subordinated to what is necessary for the proper and efficient administration of his estate in bankruptcy and the administration of the bankruptcy law. All in all, the circumstances of the present case axe such as to make that
Nothing in what I have said should be taken as indicating any view as to the attitude which should be adopted by the Official Receiver, as trustee of the bankrupt's estate,
in relation to any future application which the bankrupt might
sce fit to make to him for leave to travel overseas. Jn partacular, in the event that an appropriately specific applicatson for leave to make a particular overseas visit is made to him, the Official Receiver may well decide that, subject to any safeguards which he might consider necessary
to ensure the bankrupt's return, the administration of the bankrupt'séstate and of the Act would not be adversely affected by the making of the proposed trip. Again, the Official Receiver may well decide that, at some stage in the future, leave in general terms to travel overseas if and when he desiredso to do could be granted to the bankrupt without any prejudice to either the administration of the bankrupt's
estate or of the Act. In the one case the Official Receiver would be justified in granting, subject to such safeguards
as he considered necessary, leave to travel overseas in an appropriate lamited form. In the other he would be justified in granting, subject to any safeguards which he might consider still to be necessary, such leave in a general and unrestricted
I dismiss the Application and order that the applicant