As the Attorney General of Jersey succeeds in three appeals before the Privy Council in a long-running financial crime dispute, Joseph Dyke outlines the significance of the judgment
- The Privy Council has provided important clarification regarding the jurisdiction of the Jersey courts to effectively pursue asset freezing and confiscation relief in respect of the proceeds of crime in response to mutual legal assistance requests from foreign governments.
By an important judgment handed down on 6 June 2023 in Fang and others v His Majesty’s Attorney General (Jersey) [2023] UKPC 21, [2023] All ER (D) 82 (Jun), the Privy Council, Jersey’s highest appeal court, determined three appeals arising out of the same dispute concerning the scope and ambit of two saisies judiciaires issued in the Royal Court of Jersey in August 2013 and September 2014. Saisies judiciaires are similar to freezing orders in that they are a restraint order the Jersey courts may impose in respect of property pending confiscation proceedings.
The saisies judiciaires had been granted pursuant to the Proceeds of Crime (Jersey) Law 1999 (the 1999 Law) and the Proceeds
