De rol van de curator bij de aanpak van onregelmatigheden: een empirisch-juridisch onderzoek naar de rol van de curator in de praktijk bij de aanpak van onregelmatigheden voor en tijdens faillissement

Every year, several thousands of companies are declared bankrupt in the Netherlands. The purpose of the bankruptcy proceeding is to distribute the assets of those companies among its creditors. The total value of the claims of the creditors, however, almost always greatly exceeds the value of the company’s assets. In approximately 25% of the bankruptcies irregularities have occurred that caused the bankruptcy or increased the deficit in the estate. The societal damage caused by these irregularities is estimated at more than one billion euros per year.The legislator has given bankruptcy trustees a central role in identifying and redressing irregularities. However, the task of the trustee is not without controversy, mainly because the bankruptcy community does not agree with the legislator’s assumption that the task of dealing with irregularities is an extension of the trustee’s core task of liquidating the estate in the interest of the joint creditors.This research examines the discrepancies between the expectations of the legislator and the practice of redressing irregularities by trustees. Based on three empirical studies, it is concluded that the expectations of the legislator have not yet materialized, especially because trustees experience various obstacles when dealing with irregularities. The likelihood of irregularities being addressed does not appear to depend solely on the financial resources in a specific bankruptcy, but also on the person of the trustee and the views of the supervising court and its supervisory judges as perceived by the trustee.The thesis culminated in a number of recommendations to remove obstacles experienced by trustees and a plea for a revision of the primacy of creditors in bankruptcies, in order to promote sustainable liquidation.