Havenleigh Global Services Ltd v Henderson

In the case of Havenleigh Global Services Ltd v Henderson, David Ian Henderson, who was adjudicated bankrupt on 29 November 2010, was to be automatically discharged from bankruptcy in January 2014. The Assignee filed a Notice of Objection to Mr Henderson's discharge in November 2013, pursuant to section 292 of the Insolvency Act 2006. The Court has allocated 3 August 2015 as the commencement of the public examination of Mr Henderson as required by section 295 of the Act. Mr Henderson filed an interlocutory application seeking orders for cross-examination of a finite list of witnesses relevant to the determination of the proceeding and for the Assignee to provide certain categories of documents specified in his application. The Assignee opposed the remaining applications. The Court ruled that Mr Henderson's applications for production of Ministry for Business Innovation and Enterprise (MBIE) witnesses for cross-examination and for discovery of documents were not appropriate subject-matter for orders of the Court before the public examination of the bankrupt himself had taken place. The appropriate time to exercise the Court's ancillary powers would be when, upon the examination of the bankrupt himself, the scope of any factual issues relating to the subject-matter of the examination had been clarified. The Court adjourned Mr Henderson's interlocutory applications for review at the conclusion of the public examination. The Court dismissed Mr Henderson's application for an order that he be permitted to inspect documents pursuant to section 153 of the Act and reserved the costs of that inspection application.