2011 Regime change and the asset freezing ides of March

The sting in the tail in UK’s laissez faire welcome to our asset rich friends from overseas are the extraordinary powers of the Courts of Equity and the World’s most stringent anti-money laundering laws.  Creative use of asset tracing and asset freezing remedies is an industry for some of the UK’s leading lawyers and what might be described as weapons of mass litigation can produce for the victim claimant spectacular immediate remedies directed at the unknowing defendant, his family and declining circle of friends. 

Aside from Worldwide Freezing Orders (“WFO”) which render a defendant - who fails to comply with its provisions even in relation to overseas assets – in immediate Contempt of Court, Search Orders granted urgently in secret enable the most intrusive of property and personal searches and even more effectively  than a  criminal search warrant.  And secret “Norwich Pharmacal” disclosure relief gag the major bank or institution which innocently holds funds - now the subject of international scrutiny and detection – from revealing to its trusting customer its immediate co-operation with a Disclosure Order. With this range of Orders, the Claimant party or State has the ability to identify and lock down apparently misapplied assets before the potentially innocent owner has any idea of what is going on. 

The message is clear: if you enjoy the fruits of your political or business life overseas by making a new home in Britain, beware the Ides of March and the Chancery Courts’ scorched earth litigation pincer movements. The Courts will hold you accountable for your alleged misdeeds.

K E Oliver