1,328 insolvency petitions relating to companies were filed in Israel’s courts in 2021, 11% more than in 2020, when 1,200 such petitions were filed. The figures are from a report published this morning by the Administrator General, the Commissioner of Insolvency Proceedings, and the Succession Cases Registrar at the Ministry of Justice.
711 of the insolvency petitions were filed in the Tel Aviv District; 236 in the Haifa District, 208 in the Beersheva District; and 173 in the Jerusalem District. The number of outstanding cases was similar in both years: 9,986 in 2021 and 9,972 in 2020.
AS far as individuals are concerned, there were 16,568 petitions for bankruptcy proceedings in 2021, 5.3% fewer than in 2020, when 17,495 bankruptcy petitions were filed. The number of outstanding cases in 2021 was the lowest in five years.
The courts handed down 14,406 receivership and opening of proceedings orders in 2021, a number little changed from the 14,310 orders handed down in 2020.
In 2022, the functions of the Administrator General and the Commissioner of Insolvency Proceedings were split into two separate units with separate heads. Adv. CPA Asher Engelman was appointed Commissioner of Insolvency Proceedings two months ago. Adv. Ben-Zion Feigelson was appointed Administrator General and Succession Cases Registrar. The decision to split the units was part of an attempt to streamline their work, and because there was no commonality between them.
In 2021, debts in claims filed with the Commissioner of Insolvency Proceedings amounted to NIS 60.5 billion. Of this, NIS 43.7 billion was in proceedings relating to individuals and NIS 16.7 billion was in company insolvency proceedings.
The value of assets managed by the Administrator General, who is responsible for ownerless property, reached NIS 2.39 billion. This includes 865 homes and businesses, and 2,056 plots of land. The confiscation unit in the Administrator General’s office, set up as part of the growing campaign against economic crime, opened 778 files in 2021 for the temporary or permanent confiscation of real estate, cash and chattels to the value of NIS 29 million under the Prohibition of Money Laundering Law and NIS 17.6 million under the Drugs Ordinance. The state received legacies and gifts amounting to NIS 103 million last year.
Ministry of Justice director general Eran Davidi said, "The activity report for 2021 reflects the strengthening of the guiding purpose of the Ministry of Justice, namely streamlining and improvement of the legal services that we render to the public. We have set ourselves the goal of cutting waiting times and simplifying procedures."
Adv. Orit Kotev, acting Commissioner of Insolvency Proceedings said that, in 2021, the unit had put an emphasis on "rehabilitation for unwary debtors, including training in financial management and unique models for financial rehabilitation, among others for those involved in prostitution."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on September 4, 2022.
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