Prince Abdulaziz v Apex Global Management Ltd & Anor

Judgment

Lady Justice Arden :

Nature of these appeals and proceedings

This judgment states my conclusions on consolidated appeals by HRH Prince Abdulaziz Bin Mishal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (referred to below as Prince Abdulaziz) against a series of related interim orders made in the course of these proceedings by Vos, Norris and Mann JJ in the period July to November 2013. In a nutshell, these orders - requiring the Prince’s personal signature to two witness statements concerning disclosure, rejecting an application to vary that order, imposing an unless order for non-compliance, entering judgment and refusing relief against sanctions - have resulted in a judgment against the Prince for some $7m (I will use the round figure of $7m below). The Prince complains that these orders were wrongly made.

A brief description of the proceedings will suffice to give the context. Apex Global Management Limited (“Apex”) and Global Torch Limited (“Global Torch”) (Seychelles and British Virgin Islands companies respectively) set up an English company, Fi Call Limited (“Fi Call”), to develop and market internet telecommunications technology. Mr Almhairat, the second respondent, a Jordanian, is Apex’s sole shareholder. Global Torch is owned by Prince Abdulaziz, Mr Abu-Ayshih and a Mr Sabha, who is not a party to these proceedings. The joint venturers have fallen out and have launched cross-petitions under the court’s statutory jurisdiction to give relief against the unfairly prejudicial conduct of a company’s affairs in sections 994 to 996 of the Companies Act 2006 (“CA 2006”). Both seek share purchase orders as well as pecuniary and declaratory relief. The respondents to Global Torch’s petition are Apex and Mr Almhairat (“the Apex parties”). The respondents to Apex’s petition are Global Torch, Prince Abdulaziz, Mr Abu-Ayshih and HRH Prince Mishal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud ("Prince Mishal") (“the Global Torch parties”). Fi Call is joined as a nominal respondent in both cases.

Both joint venturers make allegations of serious misconduct of the affairs of Fi Call. For the purposes of this judgment, only the general flavour is needed. The Apex parties contend that the Global Torch Parties have caused Fi Call to be involved in money laundering and of having run a campaign of threats and other unlawful conduct against them. The Global Torch parties have alleged that Mr Almhairat misappropriated monies belonging to Fi Call. The Global Torch parties challenge the authenticity of var