Iraqi Ministry of Defence & Ors. v. Arecepy Shipping Co. S.A. (Gillespie Bros. & Co. Ltd. - Interveners) - Mr. Justice Robert Goff - Q.B. (Chambers judgment in Open Court) - Nov. 13, 1979

Mareva injunction - Interveners application for an order varying the Mareva injunction to enable defendants to repay balance of loan - Plaintiffs opposed application on grounds that the interveners were not secured creditors and the Mareva injunction had frozen the assets of the defendants in this jurisdiction - Plaintiffs claimed that the intervenors were unregistered money lenders - Whether lifting the Mareva injunction would be enforcement of an illegal transaction.

The action had arisen out of the sinking of the defendant’s vessel Angel Bell. The plaintiffs were the owners of the cargo abroad at the time and they claimed in respect of that loss. A Mareva injunction had been granted at the instance of the plaintiffs to prevent the defendants removing the insurance proceeds out of the jurisdiction. The interveners had loaned a sum of money to the defendants for the purchase of vessels including the Angel Bell . The loan was intended to be secured by a mortgage over the Angel Bell and assignment of the benefit of the insurance policies; but the plaintiffs contended that the mortgage and assignment were ineffective, that the interveners were unsecured creditors and the loan transaction was illegal and void because the interveners were unregistered money-lenders. The defendants however wished to repay the interveners’ loan, and the interveners applied for an order that the Mareva injunction be varied to permit this repayment.