Kyiv, March 17th – Eterna Law in cooperation with Maples and Calder (BVI) and Mr. Matthew Hardwick QC (instructed by Arabella di Iorio, partner of Maples) successfully appealed the decision of the first instance judge (Bannister J.) to discharge a USD 12m worldwide freezing injunction.
On 3 February 2017 the Eastern Caribbean Court Appeal (“the ECCA”) having considered the matter reported as (1) Rustam Yusufovich Gilfanov and (2) Sergey Aleksandrovich Tokarev v (1) Maxim Valeriovich Polyakov (2) Valeriy Oleksandrovich Polyakov and (3) Phoenix Holdings Limited BVIHCMAP 2016/0009 [2017] allowed the appeal of Mr. Gilfanov and Mr. Tokarev and reinstated a US$10m freezing injunction against the Defendants – Maxim Valeriovich Polyakov, Valeriy Oleksandrovich Polyakov and Phoenix Holdings Limited– principally on the bases that the judge had been wrong to find (1) that there was no general risk of dissipation; and (2) no loss.
The judgment of the ECCA provides an up to date analysis of (1) the relevance of a finding of a good arguable case of fraud to the inference of a risk of dissipation; (2) the assessment of damages in cases where property has been acquired in reliance on a fraudulent misrepresentation; and (3) the circumstances where the BVI court can order a freezing injunction against a non-cause of action defendant.
The legal team for the appellants (Mr. Gilfanov and Mr. Tokarev) in the matter included: from Eterna Law – Mr. Oleh Beketov, Partner, Head of International Litigation Department and Mr. Aleksandr Lugovskyi, Senior Associate; the BVI counsel – Arabella di Iorio and David Welford of Maples and Calder (BVI); and Mr. Matthew Hardwick QC of 3 Verulam Buildings Chambers.
