USING AND IMPROVING THE OFFICEHOLDER ROLE IN ENHANCING THE USE OF CORPORATE AND TRUST INSOLVENCY IN THE KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA
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2024-09-12
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Case Western Reserve University
Abstract
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia recently released a new bankruptcy law, showing its intent to enhance the effectiveness of insolvency procedures in the country. However, insolvency remains primarily reserved and designed for corporations, leaving trusts at the mercy of traditional bankruptcy methods. With the introduction of the new bankruptcy law and related bankruptcy commission, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia benefits from the opportunity to use the Officeholder role to standardize, promote, and enhance the use of insolvency proceedings for both corporations and trusts. This dissertation defines the main concepts of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s new bankruptcy law. The dissertation aims to identify the opportunities and lapses in legal practice revolving around the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s new insolvency laws for trusts and corporations that must be addressed to facilitate this transformation of Saudi insolvency. In pursuit of this objective, the dissertation highlights the background cultural and ideological foundations and the historical progress of bankruptcy law reforms before highlighting the promotion of the new advanced bankruptcy law per international standards. By focusing on businesses and trusts, this dissertation will highlight and address loopholes typically used to safeguard assets at the expense of beneficiaries and creditors.
A comparative approach of the Officeholder’s role in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the role, power, functions, duties, and appointment of bankruptcy trustees in Western models is applied to identify and address gaps in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's bankruptcy practices. The approach also provides the opportunity to further improve the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s insolvency laws by drawing from the critical role that trustees can play in guaranteeing the effective amalgamation and implementation of insolvency laws to bridge the trust divide between Saudi businesspersons and the government.
This dissertation compares the Islamic early endowment model to the bankruptcy trustee model used in other countries. The analysis provides insight into the conceptualization of the Officeholder role under the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s bankruptcy law. The dissertation further compares the role of the Officeholder in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the role of the trustee in other countries, such as the United States of America and the United Kingdom, to determine crucial developments and gaps. Accordingly, this dissertation constructs a comprehensive comparison of issues, substantive rights, and procedures from the perspective of rescue mechanisms and principles. This dissertation's findings will be applied to advance the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s new bankruptcy law in line with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s objectives under its Vision 2030.
Description
This dissertation explores the main concepts of the new law and identifies opportunities and shortcomings in legal practices regarding insolvency for both trusts and corporations. It emphasizes the need for reform to enhance the effectiveness of insolvency processes in the country.
The study includes a comparative analysis of the role of Officeholders in Saudi Arabia with bankruptcy trustees in Western countries to identify gaps and propose improvements.
Keywords
Bankruptcy Law, Trustee, Trusts, Insolvency, Officeholder
Citation
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