In practice, more and more often many companies are put in a situation in which bankruptcy proceedings are initiated. Lawyers cooperating with our PRWT accounting office are often asked if the insolvency administrator enters the company, whether he can do everything all or is out of any control. Concerns concern such a method of bankruptcy which, in fact, will consume all the assets of the company in a way that may raise serious reservations of its former owner, not necessarily and not always conducive to the maximum satisfaction of creditors and the sale of the company’s at market prices.

The answer to this question is provided by the provisions of the Polish bankruptcy law, i.e. Polish Bankruptcy Act of February 28, 2003 (consolidated text of 2019, item 498, as amended).

Pursuant to Art. 49112 par.1 of the Polish Bankruptcy Law, the actions of the receiver may complaint against to the bankruptcy court. This also applies to the bankruptcy trustee’s failure to act.

Who can make such a complaint? A complaint may be lodged by a bankrupt entrepreneur, a bankrupt’s creditor and, as the regulations say, any person whose rights have been violated or threatened by actions or omissions of the receiver.

The complaint shall be lodged within seven days from the date of the act by the trustee, when the bankrupt, creditor or a person whose right was violated or threatened by the action of the trustee, was present at the action or was notified of its date; in other cases – from the date of notification of the bankrupt’s, creditor or person whose right was violated or threatened by the action of the receiver, and in the absence of such notification – from the date the complainant became aware of the act. A complaint against the failure of the receiver to perform an action shall be filed within seven days from the date on which the complainant learned that the action was to be performed.

The complaint is lodged with the receiver. The official receiver shall, within three days from the date of receipt of the complaint, prepare justification of the contested action, unless it has been prepared earlier, or the reasons for its omission, and forward it together with the complaint to the competent bankruptcy court, unless the complaint is upheld in full.

The complaint should contain the requirements specified by the provisions of the Polish Code of Civil Procedure for each pleading, i.e. that it is a complaint against an action or activity of the insolvency administrator, an indication of what action, what insolvency administrator and the claim, and therefore what the complainant is demanding (e.g. revoking the action under appeal or making the actions if the official receiver failed to act). The complaint should, of course, also contain a justification, i.e. why it is being brought and why, in the complainant’s opinion, the act was wrongly performed or not performed and should have been performed.

The court examines the complaint (or at least should examine the complaint) within 7 days from the date of its receipt to the Court (transfer to the Court by the tinsolvency administrator), and if the complaint contains formal defects that must be supplemented – from the date’s of its suplemention.

However, it should be remembered that the lodging of a complaint shall not stay the bankruptcy proceedings or the performance of the contested action, unless the court will hold the performance.

As you can see, both the bankrupt and the creditor are not helpless. They can and even should control the actions of the tinsolvency administrator . If you ran a company, you have a insolvency administrator in it whose actions raise your reservations, you are not helpless. You can use the procedural options. You can draw up a complaint yourself, or you can use the help of lawyers, in our case they are lawyers who work with our accounting firm, PRWT, and specialize in economic matters.