Fraudulent Trading:
Under s.323, if the court finds that the business of a company in liquidation has been carried on with intent to defraud creditors or for any fraudulent purpose it may declare that any persons who were knowingly parties to carrying on the business in this fashion shall be liable for debts of the company as the court may decide.
It has been said that "if a company continues to carry on business and to incur debts at a time when there is to the knowledge of the directors no reasonable prospect of the creditors receiving payment of those debts, it is, in general, a proper inference that the company is carrying on business with intent to "defraud" (per Maugham J. in William C Leitch Bros (No 1)(1932). But in another case the same judge said that there must be evidence of "real dishonesty".