Negligent bankruptcy is defined in Article 162 of the Turkish Penal Code No. 5237 as follows: “A person who causes bankruptcy by failing to exercise the due care and diligence required of a merchant shall, if a bankruptcy ruling is issued, be punished by imprisonment for a term of not less than two months and not more than one year.” As can be understood from this, negligent bankruptcy can be defined as the merchant causing bankruptcy by failing to exercise the care and diligence required to maintain their status as a merchant. The crime of negligent bankruptcy is a crime of free conduct and may arise from any lack of care or diligence on the part of the merchant.
The act constituting the crime of negligent bankruptcy is described in Article 162 of the Turkish Penal Code as causing bankruptcy due to the failure to exercise the necessary care and diligence required of a merchant. However, since the law does not specify which circumstances constitute negligent bankruptcy, the scope of application is generally defined as causing bankruptcy due to a failure to exercise the required care and diligence. To illustrate this, consider the following examples:
If the bankrupt individual loses a substantial amount of money through gambling, games, or the stock market
If the bankrupt has fled by abandoning them,
If they have failed to maintain commercial records or have not maintained them as required by law,
If their household expenses are excessively high,
If they have signed promissory notes for amounts significantly exceeding their assets,
If they failed to file for bankruptcy despite being required to do so by reporting their insolvency, and subsequently went bankrupt within one year.