Corporate fraud and asset tracing matters in Jersey often turn on how quickly hidden assets are identified. Specialist Advocates act for claimants in this area.
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Fraud and Asset Recovery in the Royal Court
The Royal Court of Jersey hears disputes involving trusts and companies with links to other jurisdictions. solicitors.je is an independent directory. We can point you towards Jersey firms that work in this area.
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Civil claims and criminal investigations run on separate tracks
In Jersey, a victim of fraud can pursue assets through a civil claim in the Royal Court. Criminal investigation is a separate process led by the authorities.
For serious or complex fraud, Article 2 of the Investigation of Fraud (Jersey) Law 1991 gives the Attorney General powers to require people to answer questions and produce documents. Those powers apply wherever the suspected offence was committed, where there is good reason to use them. They belong to the Attorney General, not to private claimants. A victim who wants information or a freeze for their own claim needs a court order.
Freezing orders: how an application reaches the Royal Court
A freezing order stops a defendant dealing with assets until the court decides otherwise. The Royal Court's Practice Direction RC20/12 sets out how applications are handled:
- Applications are usually made without notice to the defendant. The Order of Justice, supporting affidavit, exhibits and a skeleton argument go to the Bailiff's Chambers.
- The Bailiff or Deputy Bailiff decides whether to grant the order. A standard form of order is used unless there is good reason to depart from it.
- The applicant gives a cross-undertaking in damages, and may be required to provide security for it.
- The applicant must serve the order and affidavit on the defendant and any parties cited, such as a bank or trustee holding the assets, as soon as practicable. The Practice Direction calls this obligation fundamental.
- Service outside Jersey can be ordered at the same time, under the Service of Process (Jersey) Rules 2019.
- The defendant can apply to discharge or vary the order, and the court hears that application as soon as it can.
The Practice Direction also ends the use of the old name: these orders are now called freezing orders, not Mareva injunctions.
Getting information from banks and trustees
Claimants often do not know where money went. A Norwich Pharmacal order requires a third party who was mixed up in wrongdoing, such as a bank or trust company, to disclose information. In Sakab Saudi Holding Company v Al Jabri [2021] JRC 187, the Royal Court applied a three-part test:
- a good arguable case that the applicant is the victim of wrongdoing;
- a reasonable suspicion that the respondent was mixed up in it; and
- that disclosure is in the interests of justice, judged on factors such as necessity, whether the information is available elsewhere, and proportionality.
The court called the jurisdiction extraordinary and not to be used lightly. In that case it narrowed an earlier order, limiting disclosure to tracing information about identified payments.
Foreign orders against assets in Jersey
Where a court outside Jersey has made a civil order to recover the proceeds of unlawful conduct, the Civil Asset Recovery (International Co-operation) (Jersey) Law 2007 provides a route to enforce it here. The Royal Court can make a property restraint order (Article 6), which vests the property in the Viscount. It can also register the external order (Article 9). On the Attorney General's application, it can then order recovery of the property (Article 10).
What to gather before instructing an advocate
- A dated timeline of the payments or transfers, with bank statements showing where the money left your control.
- The names of every bank, trust company or other entity in Jersey that may hold or have handled the assets.
- Copies of any foreign court orders or pleadings, and the dates they were made.
- Details of any report already made to the police or another authority.
Freezing applications depend on the applicant setting out the facts in a sworn affidavit, so documents matter more than conclusions.
solicitors.je is an independent directory. We can point you towards Jersey firms that work in this area.
Financial Crime & Asset Tracing Asked Questions
How do asset tracing mechanisms operate within the Royal Court of Jersey?
The Royal Court of Jersey grants interim remedies like disclosure orders and freezing injunctions. Local Advocates use these mechanisms to investigate complex corporate and trust structures. Freezing orders are discretionary and are usually sought without notice to the defendant; the Royal Court's Practice Direction RC20/12 sets out how applications are made.
Can an independent Jersey Advocate manage cross-border asset recovery?
Yes. Jersey Advocates can act on the Jersey side of a cross-border case, for example applying to the Royal Court for a freezing order or a Norwich Pharmacal disclosure order, while lawyers elsewhere run proceedings in other countries.
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