Court Upholds €17M Freezing Order, Rejects Irrelevant Evidence

In today’s ruling on the Defendants’ application for leave to file a supplementary affidavit and submit evidence wholly irrelevant to the case concerning an existing exparte freezing order against them, the Court reaffirmed established case law: attempts to introduce extraneous or immaterial evidence in interim relief proceedings cannot be entertained and must be rejected.

The order, which remains in force, freezes the Defendants’ assets up to Euro 17,000,000.

Following a detailed examination of the parties’ arguments, the Court concluded that the proposed affidavit sought to introduce facts entirely irrelevant to the proceedings. Specifically, the Court noted that the Defendants’ intended evidence—relating to criminal proceedings in Slovakia— was largely repetitive of their initial affidavit or concerned matters outside the scope of the Court’s assessment regarding the issuance and continuation of the freezing order.

The judgment reinforces the principle that attempts to introduce extraneous or immaterial evidence in interim relief proceedings will not be entertained by the Court. This outcome represents a positive development for our British clients and underscores the robustness of the freezing order in place.