Unlawful Tchenguiz arrest pushed Peverel into Administration
In a highly critical 64 page judgement the High Court has recently ruled that the arrest of Vincent Tchenguiz by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in March 2011 was unlawful because it had been procured on the basis of misrepresentation and non-disclosure by the Government agency tasked with fighting white collar crime.
The UK’s largest managing agents, Peverel were amongst Tchenguiz’s business interests. Tchenguiz claims that one consequence of his arrest was that the Bank of America Merrill Lynch foreclosed on a £125 million loan which led to Peverel being pushed into administration. Peverel was rescued in March 2012 from Administration by a private equity consortium for £62 million.
Tchenguiz is now considering a damages claim against the SFO for around £100 million. The BBC has reported that the annual budget for the SFO is just £33 million and this is one of the factors the High Court stressed in its judgement:
“The investigation and prosecution of serious fraud in the financial markets requires proper resources, both human and financial. It is quite clear that the SFO did not have such resources in the present case.”
Meanwhile, the newly appointed CEO of the Peverel Group, Janet Entwistle announced financial results for 2011 showing a increase in turnover to £74.85 million and an underlying operating profit of £12.44 million.
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