Introduction
If you have ever dealt with a company that has gone into
liquidation, you may have been on the receiving end of some of the
powers that a liquidator can wield. In a variety of circumstances
liquidators can apply to set aside or vary transactions which
occurred before their appointment. This might be because a
transaction was unduly favourable to another party, or detrimental
to the company, or resulted in one creditor being paid more than
others in the period before the winding up occurred (ie an unfair
preference).
Such transactions are referred to in the Corporations Act as
"voidable transactions". Liquidators are given the power
to attack them in order to increase the money available to the
unsecured creditors of the company. The various orders a liquidator
can seek in relation to voidable transactions are set out in s588FF
of the Act.
