Financing Arrangements in UK Law

I reprehard that, if it has any meaning in law, it means acts done or documents executed by the parties to the "sham" which are intended by them to give to third parties or to the Court the appearance of creating between the parties legal rights and obligation different from the actual legal rights and obligations(if any)which the parties intend to create.

It is true that the schemes said to have been devised by the conspirators were played out on the international stage. They implemented their schemes in different countries according to the business and activity involved. They carried on their banking and conducted their financial dealings through Swiss banks. However, the focus of the conspiracy remained Russian and the collusion was based in Russia although the schemes were played out elsewhere.

It seems to me that it is at least arguable that a debenture which prohibits a chargor from disposing of book debts before they are collected and requires him to pay them, beneficially, to the chargee as and when they are collected properly falls within the definition of a fixed charge, regardless of the extent of his contractual right to draw out sums equivalent to the amounts paid in. What he does enjoy are contractual rights to payments, whether as a lender or as a borrower, from the bank.

In other words, as I said in Secret Hotels2 Ltd v Revenue and Customs Comrs [2014] STC 937, para 35, when assessing the VAT consequences of a particular contractual arrangement, the court should, at least normally, characterise the relationships by reference to the contracts and then consider whether that characterisation is vitiated by [any relevant] facts.