Section 71
Interest on debts
(1)
Where a debt has been proved and the debt includes interest, such interest shall, for the purposes of dividend, be calculated at a rate not exceeding 8 per cent per annum and be calculated only up to the date of the receiving order, without prejudice to the right of a creditor to receive out of the estate any higher rate of interest to which he may be entitled after all the debts proved in the state have been paid in full.
(2)
In dealing with the proof of the debt, the following rules shall be observed -
(a)
any account settled between the debtor and the creditor within 3 years preceding the date of the receiving order may be examined and if it appears that the settlement of the account forms
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substantially one transaction with any debt alleged to be due out of the debtor's estate (whether in the form of renewal of a loan or capitalisation of interest or ascertainment of loans or otherwise), the account may be reopened and the whole transaction treated as one;
(b)
any payments made by the debtor to the creditor before the receiving order, whether by way of bonus or otherwise, and any sums received by the creditor before the receiving order from the realisation of any security for the debt shall, notwithstanding any agreement to the contrary, be appropriated to principal and interest in the proportion that the principal bears to the sum payable as interest at the agreed rate; and
(c)
where the debt due is secured and the security is realised after the receiving order or the value thereof is assessed in the proof the amount realised or assessed shall be appropriated to the satisfaction of principal and interest in the proportion that the principal bears to the sum payable as interest at the agreed rate.
(3)
For the purposes of this section, "interest" includes any pecuniary consideration in lieu of interest and any penalty or late payment charge by whatever name called.