Bank St Petersburg PJSC & Anor v Arkhangelsky & Anor [2020]

Bank St Petersburg PJSC & Anor v Arkhangelsky & Anor [2020] EWCA Civ 408 — 18 March 2020 (Sir Geoffrey Vos, Chancellor of the High Court; Patten LJ; Males LJ)

“Responding to claims totalling some GBP16.Sm under personal guarantees, the Defendants had counterclaimed for conspiracy to raid and seize their assets, contrary to Russian law. Some 22 months after the trial which spanned 6 months, the High Court allowed the claim and dismissed the counterclaim for lack of proof. The CA held that the Judge's requirement that the Defendants establish "the facts to be incapable of innocent explanation" set the bar too high, rendering the judgment unsafe and that a retrial should take place. The delayed judgment, although inexcusably in excess of the unwritten 3 month rule, did not alone render it unsafe.”

Louise Glover
E. G. Arghyrakis & Co.
19th March 2020