Lauren Bowkett has successfully set aside two Account Freezing Orders (“AFO’s) on behalf of her client totalling over quarter of a million pound, after demonstrating to the Police that the funds held in both company accounts were not recoverable property.

The client’s problem: The client had both company accounts frozen

The client, who owns a chain of supermarkets, instructed JMW to advise, assist and make representations to the Police in relation to two AFO’s that were made with limited notice. The Application’s caused not only significant stress to its director and the two companies under investigation, but impacted on the companies’ ability to trade and pay overheads such as staff wages. The balance of the accounts in full had been frozen.

In relation to the AFO’s, the Police had said that they had undertaken an investigation which had shown activity of the company accounts displayed ‘red flags’ of credit card fraud and money laundering. With card payments through the terminals amounting to millions of pounds. The Court granted the initial AFO applications and froze all company accounts for a period of 6 months, leading the client to seek the assistance of JMW in setting aside the orders.

How JMW helped

The client instructed JMW to apply to the Police for the AFO’s to be set aside. After detailed legal submissions and representations to the officers, involving the service of over a thousand pages of evidence, the AFO’s were discharged.

We conducted a thorough review of the company accounts and the origin of the frozen funds, which the Police claimed they had evidence to support were from credit card fraud and money laundering.

We prepared a comprehensive application to set aside the AFO’s, which was only possible due to our expert understanding of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, and of the client’s specific situation.

This needed to be handled quickly and effectively due the significant issues faced by the companies whilst their accounts were frozen. The detailed application outlined numerous legal arguments, and highlighted flaws in the Police investigation and evidence.

We placed the Police on notice through representations and outlined that, based on the comprehensive documentation and response provided that suspicions regarding the accounts had been discharged.

Outcome: Both AFO’s worth £250,000 discharged

We are pleased that the Police reviewed the detailed evidence provided and accepted our submissions to set aside the AFO’s voluntarily, at their own cost, which the Court granted. By instructing JMW, we handled the matter expeditiously saving the company significant damage both financially and reputationally. The accounts were frozen for less than six months, when they could have been frozen for up to two years.

In securing expert legal representation from JMW, the client has avoided having to apply to the court for the release of the company accounts, a lengthy period with the accounts being frozen and a contested court hearing in relation to the frozen funds, which would ultimately have incurred further costs.