Byers & ors v The Saudi National Bank [2022] WTLR 437

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Summer 2022 #187

This action related to a transfer in September 2009 of shares in five Saudi Arabian banks, then collectively worth about US$318m, by Mr Maan Al-Sanea (who at that time held those shares) to Samba Financial Group (Samba). The claimants were the liquidators of Saad Investments Company Ltd (SICL). They alleged that Mr Al-Sanea had at the time of the transfer held those shares on trust for SICL. The claimants brought a number of different actions against Samba in respect of the transfer of the shares, formulating the case on various legal bases in the various different actions. The iteration...

Breach of trust: Time for a new law?

James Brown and Mark Pawlowski consider whether a new tort of inducing a breach of trust would be a welcome development in English law The recognition of a new tort of inducing a breach of trust would have the advantage of allowing the claimant to pursue a third party where their wrongdoing consists solely of …
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Novoship (UK) Limited & ors v Nikitin & ors [2014] EWCA Civ 908

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | November 2014 #144

Mr Mikhaylyuk (M), a manager for the first respondent, NOUK, with responsibility for negotiating the charters of vessels owned by companies within the Novoship group, the remaining respondents, owed fiduciary duties to all the respondents. M had arranged a series of schemes by which he defrauded his principals and enriched himself and others by the payment of bribes given to him by those who chartered his principals’ vessels. These schemes included one concerning vessels chartered to companies owned and controlled by Mr Ruperti (R) which R then sub-chartered at substantially higher rates...

Williams v Central Bank of Nigeria [2014] UKSC 10

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | June 2014 #140

In connection with a transaction dating back to 1986 the respondent paid $6,520,190 to a solicitor in England to be held in trust on terms that it should not be released until certain funds were made available to him in Nigeria. The solicitor pocketed $500,000 and, in fraudulent breach of trust, paid out the balance to the appellant’s account with Midland Bank in London. It was alleged that the appellant was a party to the fraud. The respondent obtained permission to serve a claim form out of the jurisdiction and an application was made to set aside that permission.

Supperstone J ...

Equity: Fiduciary failings

The Australian case Grimaldi v Chameleon Mining takes an interesting stance on key points of equity law, as Carrie Rome-Sievers reports ‘Subject to the particular facts of a case of misdirected corporate funds or property received by a third party, a claimant in Australia may be well-advised to plead an orthodox property law claim separately …
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Central Bank of Nigeria v Williams [2012] EWCA Civ 415

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | June 2012 #120

In 1986, Dr Williams (D) participated in a transaction under which, he alleges, he was defrauded of $6,520,190. He commenced proceedings on 10 March 2010 against Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) alone, asserting that: an English solicitor, Reuben Gale (R), held that sum of money in his client account in trust for D on terms that he would only release it if and when certain funds had been paid in Nigeria; in May 1986 R fraudulently paid away $6,020,190 of the sum held by him for D to the account of CBN with Midland Bank in England; CBN was party to the fraud; and R retained the balance of $5...