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02 May 2014 / Leonie Parkin
Issue: 7604 / Categories: Features , Commercial
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Privileged position

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The Court of Appeal has provided important authority on the scope of litigation privilege, says Leonie Parkin

 
Rawlinson & Hunter Trustees SA v Akers & Another [2014] EWCA Civ 136, [2014] All ER (D) 200 (Feb) was an appeal in the Tchenguiz brothers’ high profile claim for damages against the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) for, inter alia, misfeasance in public office and malicious prosecution.

The claims arise from the high profile arrests of Vincent and Robert Tchenguiz and the raid and searches of their homes and associated business premises by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) on 9 and 10 March 2011. The warrants to effect the raid and searches were quashed and declared to be unlawful by the judgment of Lord Thomas (formerly Sir John Thomas PQBD) and Silber J in R (on the application of Rawlinson and Hunter Trustees SA and others) v (1) Central Criminal Court and (2) the Director of the Serious Fraud Office [2012] EWHC 3218 (Admin), [2012] All ER (D) 211 (Nov).

That judgment criticised the heavy reliance which the SFO placed on information from Grant Thornton

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