Freezing Injunctions in Fraud Cases - Recent Cases

A freezing injunction (formerly known as a "Mareva" injunction) restrains a party from dealing with its assets. They are frequently used in fraud cases to safeguard the proceeds of the fraud until trial.

The English Courts’ powers to grant freezing injunctions are more extensive than in most other jurisdictions and they are seen by some to allow a fundamentally draconian procedure. However, an increasingly flexible interpretation of the modern and global application of freezing injunctions is evident in the following Court of Appeal decisions.

• In Bank of China v IBM LLC and others [2001] EWCA 1933, it was recommended that the so-called ‘Baltic proviso’ be adopted into the standard form of the worldwide freezing injunction to enable third parties to the freezing order, such as banks or similar institutions with overseas branches, to comply with what they reasonably believe to be their obligations under the laws of the country where the assets are located.