Refusal By Dubai Court To Freeze Brat-Pack Account 

By Chrishmal Warnasuriya –October 24, 2015

Chrishmal Warnasuriya

Refusal By Dubai Court To Freeze Brat-Pack Account; Where we may have gone wrong – the “Banker/Customer” Contract 

The Facts – As Reported at the Weekend Press

This was one of the headlines making last weekend’s Press – that a certain Bank in Dubai had refused a request by the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) to freeze foreign-held monies of a politician. Since these issues cut across commercial banking law and several aspects of the banker-customer contract (or relationship) I felt there was a public interest in the knowledge of at least the basics; hence these essays, with a prompt disclaimer that I am depending entirely on what was published as regards the facts of the matter and therefore the truth or not of what was reported is beyond my personal knowledge or comprehension.

The summary of what was reported was, inter alia that:

• Days before the August 17 election news had reached the GOSL of a secret account of a young politician, son of a former VVIP at the Emirates National Bank of Dubai (NBD);
• That in an attempt to expose this and bolster the joint UNF campaign of the SLFP under H.E. the President Maithripala Sirisena (MS) and UNP under the Hon. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe (RW) a process began to track down details of the account holder and pursue further action against him;
• However although a direct authority was issued by President MS in addition to an appeal to Sheikh Rashid Al Maktoum, the information was not forthcoming;
• A legal firm was hired to represent the GOSL in Dubai (presumably with knowledge of banking law – can’t differ much when it comes to international transactions) that assured to “recover and return” the monies, had it been obtained illegally;
• However months thereafter, the Dubai court has turned down the GOSL request to freeze these funds on the principle premise that the holder of the account/s had not been convicted in Sri Lanka, nor a case filed against him in any court.

This invites us to consider whether the Dubai court ruling can be sustained on the Law. To economize word-space only the fundamentals of this area in Commercial Banking Law will be discussed.

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