Anyone who receives an AFO application is advised to think strategically about how best to respond. While there may, at first, appear to be relatively few options for any AFO recipient, this is not always the case.
It is, for example, possible to apply to the court to vary the terms of the Account Freezing Order. The court has wide discretion to vary or make exclusions from a freezing order, including to enable the carrying on of a trade or business, to meet reasonable living expenses, or to meet legal expenses. It is important to note, however, such making such application is likely to require full disclosure of financial circumstances by the applicant.
Equally, a recipient may seek to negotiate with the enforcement agency for variation of an Account Freezing Order by agreement.
It is also possible to persuade a court to set the AFO aside altogether. However, given these applications’ relatively low evidential bar, an AFO recipient may be better advised to treat their account’s freezing as inevitable and focus resources on preparing to resist any later forfeiture application.
Importantly, anyone served with an Account Freezing Order is not required to explain the source of the funds in the account. They may well decide to keep their evidential powder dry until the applicant seeks forfeiture.