Judgment given by Commercial Court on application to dismiss Tchenguiz claims

Vincent Tchenguiz and other claimants alleged that the individual defendants in this case had pursued a malicious prosecution of them, had conspired to injure them by unlawful means and maliciously procured arrest and search warrants and execution of the same against them. Two of the defendants (Kaupthing Bank HF & Jóhannes Rúnar Jóhannsson) brought an application pursuant to CPR 11 seeking dismissal or a stay of the proceedings brought against them on two independent grounds of insolvency and jurisdiction. The court ruled that the claim against Kaupthing Bank could not continue in England due to Icelandic law. However the claims against Jóhannes Jóhannsson, a member of Kaupthing’s winding-up committee; accountants Grant Thornton and two of its partners – Stephen Akers and Hossein Hamedani – can continue in Britain, the court ruled. Samantha Knights was involved in this case.