IN TWO years, 1,500 Portuguese were declared bankrupt under the terms of the new Código de Insolvência e Recuperação de Empresas (Insolvency and Credit Recovery Code).
According to the Ministry of Justice, 81 individuals were declared bankrupt in the last quarter of 2004, while, in 2005, the courts declared 1,318 individuals bankrupt.
The Justice Minister, Alberto Costa, has not yet released figures for 2006, but official sources said that the tendency was for an increase in the number of failed businesses.
New law
Yet, of all the cases ordered before a judge, only 65 individuals voluntarily declared themselves bankrupt while the rest were forced to court by the tax authorities or by creditors.
More serious was that only 16 cases presented a plan of payment while, in all the other cases, the case was closed due to lack of funds.
Among famous names on the bankruptcy list were former TAP President Cardoso e Cunha and former Sporting President João Rocha.
Under the new law, those in a situation of bankruptcy have to present a list of goods to the court which can be used to offset a part of their debts.
The debtors must also present a full list of creditors in alphabetical order and the amounts owed to each one, and the type of guarantees offered.
Only after these measures have been taken can the bankrupt individual be accepted as insolvent.
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