On 21 December 2021, Mr Justice Henshaw, sitting in the Commercial Court, handed down a significant judgment representing the latest chapter in the Kazakhstan Kagazy litigation, one of the most substantial fraud disputes in the High Court over the last decade. Daniel Saoul KC acted for the successful claimants, together with Robert Howe KC and Jonathan Miller, instructed by Hogan Lovells.
The Judgment follows a three week trial in July 2021, and eight years of litigation in total, and relates to the enforcement of a previous judgment in favour of the Claimants for approximately US$300million, rendered by Picken J in December 2017. The Claimants sought to enforce that previous Judgment against a variety of assets held through offshore trusts including £72million in cash in a Swiss bank account, and a number of multi-million pound properties in London.
Mr Justice Henshaw’s Judgment deals with a number of complex legal issues relating to tracing, the relevance of the trusts (which were based in Cyprus), Section 423 of the Insolvency Act 1986 and the use of nominee principles to attack the assets. A copy of the Judgment is available here.
Daniel Saoul KC has substantial experience of fraud, asset tracing and recovery matters, having also led the successful parties in a ten week enforcement trial earlier this year in proceedings known as the Orb litigation (formally known as Serious Fraud Office v Litigation Capital Limited & Others).
