GT liquidators win right to appeal disclosure of Tchenguiz documents

GRANT THORNTON joint liquidators, have won the right to appeal an order to hand over vital documents at the centre of the Tchenguiz brothers’ case against the SFO, prompting accusations the liquidators have something to hide.

Propety tycoons Vincent and Robert Tchenguiz won a court order in July that ordered the release of documents that triggered the SFO to carry out dawn raids on the brothers two years ago. That raid was part of a botched investigation into the pair’s involvement in the collapse of Icelandic bank Kaupthing.

On Monday, a Court of Appeal ruled that Grant Thornton’s Steve Akers and Mark McDonald could appeal the previous order that they must hand over the documents, The Telegraph reports.

The pair acted as liquidators for Oscatello, a British Virgin Islands-registered investment vehicle that was one of the largest debtors of Kaupthing.

In response to the ruling, Vincent Tchenguiz said the reports were key to the SFO’s “misguided decision” to investigate him. “This successful application leads me to repeat the question ‘why are the respondents going to such extreme lengths to try and prevent them from ever seeing the light of day’?” Tchenguiz said.

In a statement, the joint liquidators said: “The disclosure of the five reports – which relate to an on-going liquidation case – is likely, in the liquidators’ view, to jeopardise or harm the interests of the liquidation estates.

“As the liquidators’ duty is to the creditors, and for this reason alone, the joint liquidators are opposed to disclosure of these reports.”