Permafreeze: The Judgment In Customs & Excise v Garnet Investments Ltd

Those who thought the days of the extended informal freeze may be over, think again. Many in the financial services industry were heartened by a decision of the Royal Court of Guernsey earlier this year which granted an application for judicial review and quashed a refusal of consent by the Financial Investigation Service ("FIS") to the release of funds held by BNP. But a recent Court of Appeal judgment in The Chief Officer, Customs & Excise, Immigration and Nationality Service v Garnet Investments Limited [July 2011] has reversed that decision and held that where there is a suspicion that has not been dispelled, the police must be entitled to refuse consent whatever period of time has elapsed.