Contempt of court
SIA Investment Industry v Pardus Wealth Ltd and another [2025] EWHC 269 (Comm)
The Commercial Court ruled on the appropriate sanction to be imposed on the second respondent, who had, in earlier proceedings, been found guilty of contempt of court for failing to comply with several provisions of a freezing order issued on 17 November 2023. Three specific breaches had been identified: failure to inform the applicant company’s solicitors of his assets exceeding £10,000; failure to swear and serve an affidavit verifying the disclosed information; and entering into a loan extension that diminished the equity of a property known as Saffron House. The court held that the breaches undermined the administration of justice and that, in all the circumstances, an immediate custodial sentence of 15 months’ imprisonment was appropriate. Accordingly, an order for committal was made.
Costs
Zavorotnii (by his litigation friend Zoia Sircovscaia) v Malinowski and others [2025] EWHC 260 (KB)
The King’s Bench Division ruled on a discrete point raised at a costs case management hearing,
