In a decisive ruling, the High Court of England and Wales dismissed all claims against the El Husseiny family (the “Family”) and Virtue Trustees (Kendris), their Swiss institutional wealth management advisor. This ends a protracted legal battle in the UK launched by Sharjah government-owned Invest Bank, backed by litigation funder Burford Capital and its legal advisers PCB Byrne.
The litigation, which spanned four years and nine jurisdictions, arose from allegations that Lebanese businessman Ahmad El Husseini acted as a guarantor for loans granted to two United Arab Emirates companies: Commodore Contracting Company and Al Tadamun Glass and Aluminum Company in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Ahmad always maintained that these guarantees were never given and that the documents that supposedly evidenced this were forgeries. A default judgment was later entered against Ahmad in England.
The bank then brought proceedings against Ahmad and his family under section 423 of the Insolvency Act 1986 to reverse various transfers of value from Ahmad or his companies to members of his family or his companies. The bank described this as a “global asset dissipation scheme to defeat its creditors.” This allegation and relief was requested by the bank during an ex parte hearing in July 2021 (at which the defendants were completely unaware and unrepresented), and was subsequently challenged by them. The defendants stated that the alleged asset transfers did not take place at all or that they were carried out for legitimate reasons, such as tax planning (to mitigate the impact of a change to the inheritance tax regime in the United Kingdom that came into effect. effective April 4, 2017).
The High Court ruling confirms the family’s years-held position that these allegations were completely unfounded, vindicating them after years of relentless legal action by the Bank and its legal partners.
In paragraph 483 of the judgment, High Court judge Mr Justice Calver stated: “I conclude that the Bank has failed to prove any of its claims against the Defendants, and its claims against each are accordingly dismissed. of them.”
“We are grateful for today’s High Court decision, which has ruled unequivocally in our favor,” the El Husseiny family stated. “Invest Bank has pursued its ruthless lawsuit against our family for four years relentlessly and in multiple jurisdictions. “We have always maintained that this fabricated lawsuit was totally false and today our position has finally been vindicated.”
“While today’s ruling brings us a sense of relief, this prolonged and intense litigation has caused significant harm to our family financially, reputationally and emotionally. Through no fault of our own, we have been forced to defend ourselves against these baseless claims both in the UK and abroad, spending large sums of money while the Bank attempted to officially change its case at least eight times, inventing argument after argument in “their malicious intention to exploit us as a family.”
The cost of this extensive multi-jurisdictional litigation has far exceeded the alleged £19m debt. Since the litigation began, the Bank has filed more than 100 petitions and subpoenas in nine jurisdictions, seeking to financially suffocate the family and force a settlement.
In addition, false subpoenas were issued in New York, South Dakota and California in an illegal attempt to obtain financial records, Gmail and WhatsApp information, and private investigators were hired to investigate the lives of the defendants, their partners and even their parents. small children. The El Husseiny family successfully challenged these illegal subpoenas from the Bank, and a US judge ruled against Invest Bank and its partners, who were “the vanguard of a global illegal fishing expedition.”
In another example of the Bank’s conduct, in June 2023 it sought an order preventing Joan (Ahmad’s ex-wife, an elderly Scottish woman) from using her own funds for living and legal expenses without its consent or court approval. The application was dismissed with costs in favor of Joan. Justice Dias observed that the order sought by the Bank would be “wholly inappropriate”, that the Court had no jurisdiction to grant it and that “it could not conceivably be right, even in principle, to make such an order”.
At the same time, Ahmad’s global assets remained frozen as the Bank initiated similar proceedings in Canada, leaving him unable to pay his legal team in the UK and forcing him to withdraw from proceedings in that country. Despite multiple written requests from the Bank’s lawyers for permission to sell a property and cover their legal fees, no resolution was provided, culminating in the already ill Ahmad being unable to continue proceedings in the Kingdom. United, resulting in a default judgment against him. In this case, the Bank managed to paralyze Ahmad’s finances and his ability to continue in the proceedings.
Although the Bank amended its legal claims at least seven times in the UK proceedings and attempted to adjourn the trial four weeks before it was due to begin, the court ultimately found no merit in its claims.
This case should raise serious questions about the use of the British judicial system by foreign entities attempting to bring unfounded claims. In this case, Ahmad was not even initially notified in the United Arab Emirates.
The El Husseiny Family concluded: “This has been a tough experience for our family and, although we are happy that it is over today, we deeply believe that it should never have happened. This case is a disturbing example of how our justice system can be exploited for financial gain by entities with no regard for the truth or the people involved. “The UK’s taxpayer-funded courts should not serve as a playground for manufactured litigation.”
“Today’s ruling is not only a personal victory for our family, but also a powerful reminder that justice can prevail, albeit at significant personal and financial cost. “We are currently considering all available options to recover costs and obtain compensation in light of the significant damage we have endured,” he concluded.
Source: Ambito
