LONDON, April 5 (Reuters) - Prateek Gupta's lawyers are
seeking an extension of a deadline to challenge a $625 million
global freezing order imposed by a London Court on the Indian
businessman and his firms until June, a spokesperson said on
Wednesday.
Freezing orders are injunctions granted by the English
courts to restrain individuals or businesses from disposing of
or dealing with assets on a worldwide basis.
Commodity trader Trafigura, which sought the order, said in
February that it had booked a $577 million charge relating to
what it alleges is "systematic fraud" by Gupta's companies over
nickel cargoes.
Gupta previously aimed to prepare "a robust response" to the
allegations and file the application to remove the freezing
order by April 6.
"The clients are in the process of obtaining an extension of
time for the intended discharge application, and the new
deadline is likely to be in June," the spokesperson for Gupta
said in an email.
A London court imposed the freezing order, dated Feb. 8,
on bank accounts and other assets tied to Gupta and seven
companies Trafigura said are controlled by him, including those
in Britain, Singapore, Malaysia and Switzerland.
In court papers submitted previously, Trafigura said it
began to suspect in October last year that around 25,000 tonnes
of metal sold by Gupta's firms may not be high-grade nickel, and
began inspecting more than 1,000 shipping containers.
In February, Trafigura told the judge in a closed-door
hearing that some of the first containers inspected were found
to contain carbon steel, which is worth a fraction of the price
of nickel.
(Reporting by Pratima Desai, Eric Onstad and Polina Devitt;
editing by Kirsten Donovan)
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.