PRIVY COUNCIL DISMISSES PROPERTY TYCOON ROBERT TCHENGUIZ’S APPEALS AGAINST LIQUIDATOR CLAIMS

Ewan McQuater QC instructed by Carey Olsen has successfully resisted a raft of appeals by Robert Tchenguiz acting through Guernsey trustees seeking to resist enforcement of claims against assets of the Guernsey-based Tchenguiz Discretionary Trust. Ewan led the successful two-junior counsel team acting for BVI liquidators from Grant Thornton seeking to enforce £183m of creditor claims against the trust assets. Robert Tchenguiz’s prestigious home next to the Albert Hall (formerly the Royal College of Organists) is now among the assets vulnerable to enforcement. The Privy Council in Investec Trust (Guernsey) Limited and otrs v Glenalla Properties Ltd and otrs [2018] UKPC 7 dismissed Mr Tchenguiz’s attempts to resist enforcement contending that the former trustees had acted with gross negligence and that the creditor claims were unreasonably incurred. The decision is moreover a landmark ruling on Jersey legislation limiting the personal liability of trustees and on the private international law principles for determining which law will govern claims against a trust. The Privy Council was deeply divided on the latter issue with a particularly strongly worded dissent from Lord Mance.