Article 140. Opening of Liquidation Proceedings

The adoption by the court of a decision on declaring the debtor bankrupt shall entail the commencement of liquidation proceedings.

The duration of the liquidation proceedings may not exceed twelve months. If necessary, this period, at the petition of the person participating in the insolvency case, or at the initiative of the court, may be extended by a court ruling up to three months.

The grounds for extending the term of the liquidation proceedings may be:

existence of a case affecting the property interests of the debtor or its creditors in judicial and enforcement proceedings;

existence of unsold property of the debtor, except for the cases provided for in Article 57 of this Law;

existence of a criminal case on the grounds of false insolvency, concealment and deliberate insolvency, other crimes against the interests of the debtor, which is a legal entity, and its creditors, committed by officials of the debtor;

upon necessity to eliminate violations of the legislation specified in the court ruling on the refusal to approve the report of the liquidation manager on the results of the liquidation procedure;

upon necessity to eliminate violations of the legislation identified by the authorized state body.

The court ruling on the extension of the term of the liquidation proceedings may be appealed (protested).

In its decision declaring the debtor bankrupt and commencing liquidation proceedings, the court may, taking into account the specific nature of the debtor legal entityʼs activities and upon the petition of the creditorsʼ meeting, the liquidation administrator and/or the relevant republican executive authorities, economic administration bodies, or local executive authorities, provide that the liquidation proceedings shall be conducted without terminating the debtorʼs activities. In such a case, the performance of contracts concluded prior to the commencement of the insolvency proceedings and necessary for the continuation of the debtorʼs activities may not be suspended or refused.

The liquidator shall continue to perform the contracts concluded before the initiation of insolvency proceedings against the debtor and which are considered important for the continuation of the debtor's activities. In this respect, the agreement of the parties on the suspension or refusal to execute contracts in connection with the recognition of the debtor as bankrupt and the opening of the liquidation proceedings shall be recognized as invalid, except for the cases provided for by this Law.