National Crime Agency v Mr Ayodele Odewale
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Mrs Justice McGowan DBE |
| Judgment Date | 22 June 2020 |
| Neutral Citation | [2020] EWHC 1609 (Admin) |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court) |
| Docket Number | Case No: QB 2017005341 |
| Date | 22 June 2020 |
[2020] EWHC 1609 (Admin)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL
Mrs Justice McGowan
Case No: QB 2017005341
and
and
Mr Andrew Sutcliffe QC and Mr Theodor van Sante (instructed by the National Crime Agency) for the First Claimant
Mr Ian Smith (instructed by Dentons UK and Middle East LLP) for the Second Claimant
Mr Simon Farrell QC (as litigator and advocate) and Mr Patrick Cannon (instructed by Mr Simon Farrell QC) for the First Defendant
Mr Ellis Sareen (instructed by Mr Simon Farrell QC) for the Second Defendant
Hearing dates: 04-07/02/2020
APPROVED JUDGMENT
The Hon.
Introduction
This is a claim brought by the National Crime Agency (the “ NCA”) for a civil recovery order under Chapter 2 of Part 5 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (“ POCA”) in relation to certain assets (the “ Disputed Assets”) held by the First and Second Defendant. The NCA is an “ enforcement authority” for the purposes of that Act.
The Second Claimant, National Westminster Bank Plc (the “ Bank” or “ NatWest”), seeks a declaration under section 281 of POCA that to the extent the Disputed Assets are the property of the Bank they are not recoverable property under Part 5 of POCA and for such relief necessary for the Bank to enforce its proprietary rights to those assets. The NCA takes a neutral position towards the Second Claimant's claims.
The First Defendant, Mr Ayodele Odewale (who also uses the name Ayodele Balogun, his mother's maiden name) is a Nigerian national who previously resided in the UK. Mr Odewale has previous convictions for fraud and dishonesty-related offences dating from 1998, 1999, 2003 and 2011. Following his convictions, he was made subject to a Deportation Order. Mr Odewale left the UK in October 2016 prior to deportation and is currently resident in Nigeria.
The Second Defendant, Ms Yadav, is the long-term partner of the First Defendant. They have been in a relationship since 1999 and have three children together. Ms Yadav is a British national and remains resident in the UK. Ms Yadav is Head of Operations for a research collaborative at Imperial College London.
The Disputed Assets consist of three luxury Patek Philippe watches allegedly owned by the First Defendant, the credit balance of three bank accounts (one in the name of the First Defendant and two in the name of the Second Defendant), and a personalised licence plate currently registered to the Second Defendant's car. The total value of this property is estimated at around £1 million. The details of the Disputed Assets are set out in the table below.
| Property | Registered Owner | Description | Value (or estimated value) |
| Bank account funds (“ Sainsbury's 637”) | Mr Odewale | Sainsbury's Bank account number 05896637 sort code 12-60-50 | £309,959.00 |
| Patek Philippe Watch (“ Patek 1”) | Mr Odewale | Watch 5970G movement number 3048343 case number 4348926 | £93,000 |
| Patek Philippe Watch (“ Patek 2”) | Mr Odewale | Watch 5970R movement number 3047627 case number 4294126 | £93,000 |
| Patek Philippe Watch (“ Patek 3”) | Mr Odewale | Watch 5800/1A movement number 3414947 case number 4717113 | £13,000 |
| Bank account funds (“ Sainsbury's 841”) | Ms Yadav | Sainsbury's Bank account number 05890841 sort code 12-60-50 | £466,737.77 1 |
| Bank account funds (“ Santander 649”) | Ms Yadav | Santander ISA account number 76874649 sort code 09-01-28 | £20,734.11 |
| Licence plate (“ the 1SBO Plate”) | Ms Yadav | Registration “1SBO” | £15,000 |
It is the NCA's case that the Disputed Assets are “recoverable property” within the meaning of Chapter 2 of Part 5 of POCA because they are (or represent) assets obtained through unlawful conduct. The unlawful conduct through which this property (or other property which this property represents) was obtained is said to be various fraud and money laundering offences committed by Mr Odewale and/or money laundering offences committed by Ms Yadav.
The NCA's case is that following his previous conviction for identity theft fraud in 2003 Mr Odewale has continued to commit other similar identity theft frauds. In particular it is alleged that Mr Odewale was involved in two specific identity theft frauds in 2014 and 2015 (although he has never been convicted or charged in relation to them) the proceeds of which can be traced to certain of the Disputed Assets. The NCA's case is that Mr Odewale has had no reported legitimate income since his previous conviction, yet has been in the possession of significant funds and high value assets during that time, so it can be inferred that the balance of the Disputed Assets were obtained through Mr Odewale's unlawful conduct by identify theft frauds and subsequent money laundering.
In respect of the Disputed Assets in the possession of Ms Yadav, the NCA principally relies on the unlawful conduct of Mr Odewale and asserts that the property held by Ms Yadav is recoverable because Mr Odewale obtained it through unlawful conduct (or it represents such property) and Ms Yadav received it from him otherwise than in good faith, for value and without notice of it being recoverable property. Alternatively, it is asserted that Ms Yadav obtained the property through her own unlawful conduct of money laundering offences under sections 327–329 POCA.
NatWest is the bank at which the accounts that were subject to the specific identity theft frauds in 2014 and 2015 were held. The Bank's case is that it was the victim of these specific frauds and as a result has equitable proprietary claims to certain of the Disputed Assets (namely certain of the funds in the Sainsbury's 637 Account and/or the Sainsbury's 841 Account and the Patek 1 watch).
Mr Odewale denies that the Disputed Assets are recoverable property because he says they were not obtained through unlawful conduct. Mr Odewale maintains that the Disputed Assets derive from legitimate income from the sale of properties in Nigeria, trading in watches, funds returned to him that had previously been confiscated by Essex Police, various bank loans, overdrafts and other credit facilities, gambling profits and the sale of cars and a property in Liverpool. He accepts that the specific frauds took place but asserts they were not committed by him, and that the assets arising from them are not recoverable under POCA (and that NatWest has no proprietary claim to them) as he obtained them in good faith, for value and without notice that they were recoverable. He says he neither knew nor suspected they were criminal property.
Ms Yadav also denies that she obtained property through unlawful conduct. She claims she knew little about Mr Odewale's financial life but believed that he earned his money legitimately by trading in watches and other high value items. She did not know or suspect that any money that came to her from him was the proceeds of crime. She claims that a substantial portion of the money that came to her from him was the repayment of a loan and interest.
The genesis of this claim was an investigation by the Metropolitan Police following a report from Patek Philippe in 2016 that the watches Patek 1, Patek 2 and Patek 3 had been deposited for servicing. During the course of that investigation on 30 August 2016 a Restraint Order under POCA was obtained at the Crown Court at Southwark in respect of certain high value watches and bank accounts held by Mr Odewale and Ms Yadav. The matter was then referred to the NCA for a civil recovery investigation on 6 December 2016 following Mr Odewale's departure from the UK.
The NCA obtained a Property Freezing Order (the “ PFO”) pursuant to s. 245A of POCA in respect of the assets previously subject to the Restraint Order. This was granted by Blake J sitting in the Administrative Court following a without notice application made by the NCA on 9 December 2016. On 5 September 2017 the PFO was extended until 5 December 2017 by Fraser J. A further bank account in the name of Ms Yadav (the Santander 649 Account) was made subject to the order on 8 September 2017 by Supperstone J.
Ms Yadav provided a witness statement as required by the PFO on 30 January 2017 but Mr Odewale did not, as by this point he had left the jurisdiction. A Disclosure Order under s.357 of POCA (“ the Disclosure Order”) was made on 5 May 2017 by King J (and varied on 7 August 2017 by Nicola Davies J) in relation to the civil recovery investigation into the Disputed Assets and the Defendants. Ms Yadav was interviewed pursuant to the Disclosure Order on 28 July 2017.
Mr Odewale and Ms Yadav applied to vary the PFO to provide for legal expenses exclusions on 12 June 2018 and 3 December 2018 respectively. Mr Odewale's application was dismissed by Walker J on 19 October 2018 ( [2018] EWHC 3470 (QB)) and Ms Yadav's application was dismissed by Popplewell J on 19 December 2018 ( [2018] EWHC 3903 (QB)). Permission to appeal these decisions was refused by the Court of Appeal on 1 April 2019.
The NCA issued this claim for a Recovery Order on 4 December 2017.
The Second Claimant was joined on 20 September 2019 by order of Master McCloud.
The Disputed Assets are currently all subject to the PFO which remains in place pending the disposal of this claim.
The Legal Framework – Civil Recovery Orders Recoverable Property
The claim is brought for a civil recovery order under Chapter 2 of Part 5 of POCA, which enables an enforcement authority (such as the NCA ( s.316(1) POCA, as amended by Crime and Courts Act 2013 c. 22, s. 61(2), Sch. 8 para. 121) to recover, in civil proceedings before the High Court, property which is, or represents, property...
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Bank makes recoveries following account takeover frauds
...was handed down in the matter of National Crime Agency and National Westminster Bank Plc v. Odewale and Yadav [2020] EWHC 1609 (Admin) on 22 June 2020, following a four-day trial. The NCA had frozen assets (including three very valuable watches, a car licence plate and a number of bank bala......