The High Court has considered a debtor’s application for permission to appeal against the making of his bankruptcy order, on the basis that the petitioning creditors had an ulterior object in seeking the debtor’s bankruptcy. A petitioner has an ulterior object if, by presenting a petition, they achieve or seek to achieve an advantage over other creditors on the subsequent making of a bankruptcy order. A conjunction arises where the petitioner has an ulterior object and is not acting in the best interests of the creditors as a whole. The High Court considered the authorities and prescribed a three stage process for exercising discretion at the hearing of a bankruptcy petition where the petition may have been presented by a creditor with an ulterior object and was opposed by other creditors.

Case: Maud v Aabar Block SARL and another [2016] EWHC 2175 (Ch)