A UK court has frozen £150m of assets belonging to Sri Lankan-Born Winston Soosaipillai, also known as Sanjeev Kumar, the owner of the collapsed Prax Lindsey oil refinery. The injunction, granted in July, prevents him from moving or selling assets outside England and Wales after the refinery’s sudden financial implosion earlier this year.
Administrators of five Prax companies are suing Soosaipillai for breach of director duties, citing irregularities linked to a £783m securitisation facility that funded the group’s operations. They are seeking damages over alleged misrepresentation, unlawful inducement to breach contracts, and deceit. The final scale of damages has not yet been assessed.
The collapse of Lindsey refinery, which produced 10% of UK fuel, left hundreds of workers facing job losses. Unite union staged a protest outside parliament this week, calling the closure “industrial vandalism” and urging the Labour government to intervene. Energy minister Michael Shanks has demanded that Soosaipillai “do the decent thing” and support affected staff.
Court papers show Soosaipillai and his wife Arani, co-owners of Prax, left the UK for Dubai shortly after the refinery entered administration in June. Since acquiring Lindsey from Total in 2021, the couple reportedly took £11.5m in pay and dividends. By the time of its collapse, the refinery’s bank account held just £203 while creditors pursued tens of millions in unpaid debts.
Once a fuel empire spanning petrol stations, a North Sea oilfield, and annual revenues of £10bn, Prax’s rapid debt-fuelled growth has now unravelled. Administrators revealed over £1.5bn in inter-company loans across the group, describing its financial foundations as a “house of cards.”
Sri Lankan-Born Couple Vanish from UK in £1.5bn Energy Collapse Scandal
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