Cayman Islands Court Declares Maan AlSanea In Contempt

The Financial Times reports that a Cayman Islands Court has declared Mr. AlSanea in contempt for violating the US$9.2 billion asset freeze it imposed.

Two violations were cited:

1. Transfer of US$60 million to the Saad Specialist Hospital last July
2. Putting one of his companies, Singularis, into voluntary liquidation.

Mr. AlSanea offered the following defenses.

Re the SSH transfer:

1. He was not aware that the freezing order applied when he made the transfer
2. His net worth is US$12.4 billion and so the transfer of US$60 million has no material impact on the freeze.

Re Singularis:

1. He was merely following legal advice and did not know that placing the company into liquidation violated the order.

The Court apparently did not buy these arguments. Here's the FT's characterization of the Court's assessment.

The judgment said it was "clear that an order for imprisonment would be futile and in any event perhaps unjustified", but the court found that "specific breaches of its orders" had "amounted to contempt

In light of the Court's reaction, I think it is really unfortunate that the FT didn't provide a bit more on Mr. AlSanea's defense regarding the requirements of the freezing order.   He certainly deserves his day in Court - including the Court of Public Opinion.

I would like to know if Mr. Al Sanea's is asserting that:

1. The legal draftsmanship skills of the Cayman Islands' Court are so poor that the Order was unclear.
2. The Order was clear but the Court delayed in communicating it to Mr. Al Sanea and his counsel.
3. The Order was clear and promptly delivered to his counsel, but they failed to notify him in time, i.e. before he took these actions.
4. Or the Order was clear, delivered to his counsel promptly and they relayed it to him promptly with sound legal advice, but the chap in the mail room forgot to bring it to him in time.
5. Or the Order was clear, delivered to his counsel promptly, relayed to him promptly and delivered by  that mail room chap the same day, but his counsel misinterpreted the Court Order.  And thus gave him what turned out to be faulty legal advice.
6. Or the Order was clear, delivered to his counsel promptly, relayed to him promptly with sound legal advice, delivered the same day by the mail room chap, but that he  simply forgot.  This is perhaps the most tragic explanation of all:  senior manager syndrome.  Or "SMS" as it's known to corporate lawyers.  It's as pernicious as Alzheimers, though it appears to be work related, not genetic. 

I have seen the most senior levels of my home country government or senior executives at major multinational firms  forced by relentless questioning in Congress to admit the terrible toll their office has taken on them.  That is, they are under such pressure from the volume and highly stressful critical nature of their work that their memories are affected.  Not only can they not remember what was discussed at a meeting, they may not even recall the meeting took place.  They don't  appear to remember much of what they do or why they did it.  Entire days or issues disappear from recollection.  I recall seeing one Harvard JD holding the most senior legal position in my country being forced by heartless Congressman to reveal that he really couldn't remember much of anything.  A rather pathetic sight, though luckily, he apparently still knew his own name.  Perhaps a sign that there is a hope for reversal. 

What's even sadder is the lack of public concern or compassion.  During the entire health care reform debate, I did not hear a single politician - conservative or liberal - raise the plight of this group - many struck down by SMS in the prime of their careers.  I believe that Aristotle said something on how one could judge a civilization by how it treated a certain group. I'm sure this is the group he was thinking of.