Chancery Division
Published July 16, 2008
In re Rottmann (a Bankrupt)

The court had power to adjourn the hearing of the public examination of a bankrupt and order the examination to be conducted in private where foreign criminal proceedings had been instituted against him.

Judge Kaye, QC, sitting as a Chancery Division judge, so held on May 20, 2008, when acceding in a limited way to the application of the bankrupt, Michael Rottmann, to suspend the public examination he was due to face.

The respondent was the bankrupt’s trustee in bankruptcy, Louise Mary Brittain.

HIS LORDSHIP said that the bankrupt submitted that the use in foreign criminal proceedings of the transcript of the public examination would infringe his right not to incriminate himself and prejudice his right to a fair trial.

Balancing the right of the bankrupt not to incriminate himself and the rights of the creditors to obtain information about the bankrupt’s affairs, the court would exercise its discretion and order the examination to be conducted in private.

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