Business loses court bid to hold off action

A COURT has refused an application filed by Bismarck Maritime Limited to set aside a statutory demand issued against it by DNV GL Australia Pty Ltd.
A statutory demand is a written warning from a creditor which states that if the debt is not paid, or the arrangement made to pay it is not acceptable to the creditor, it may ask the court to declare the debtor bankrupt.
Waigani National Court judge Justice Derek Hartshorn refused Bismarck’s application because he said it failed to prove in court that it was not liable for the total amount claimed in the statutory demand.
“It has failed properly to prove that it has a genuine and substantial dispute as to whether or not the debt in the statutory demand is owing or is due,” Justice Hartshorn said. “Further, upon the evidence, the debt claimed to be owed by Bismarck to DNV is not a mere assertion. The relief sought in the origination summons should be refused.”