High Court Criticises Firm For Private Prosecution Disclosure Failure - Legal Futures

High Court criticises firm for private prosecution disclosure failure - Legal Futures https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/high-court-criticises-firm-for-private-prosecution-disclosu...
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U p co m i n g Associate
H i g h Co u r t c r i t i c i s e s f i r m
prosecution-disclosure-failure/print/)
We b i n a r s
 News 
for private prosecution 
disclosure failure 16/01/2024
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Posted by Neil Rose ( h t t p s : / / w w w. l e g a l f u t u r e s . co . u k / o u r - t e a m / n e i l - r o s e ) 
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 ( h t t p s : / / w w w. l e g a l f u t u r e s . c o . u k
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The High Court has / a s s o c i a te - n ew s / u n l o c k-
decisions-of-2023)
criticised a leading billing-efficiency-live-
private prosecutions webinar-on-turning-billing-
17/01/2024
law �rm for the
Bullet proof your will stress-into-collection-success
information it
provided to persuade files – a practical guide
a judge to issue to stopping probate
A M L Co m p li a n ce u p da te :
summonses alleging disputes

How to avoid unnecessary
fraud against three (https://www.legalfutures.co.uk
fines – and reputational
people. /product/bullet-proof-your-
damage
District Judge will-files-a-practical-guide-to-
Sternberg at stopping-probate-disputes)
/associate-news/aml-
Westminster
compliance-update-how-to-
Magistrates’ Court High Court: District judge’s ruling 17/01/2024
subsequently set the upheld avoid-unnecessary-fines-and-
Leasehold update 2024
summonses aside reputational-damage)
 (https://www.legalfutures.co.uk
after further /product/leasehold-
disclosure was made by London �rm Edmonds Marshall McMahon
update-2024) What measured AI looks
(EMM).
l i k e i n t o d a y ’s l e g a l
He concluded that the proceedings were an abuse of process, as practices
their client’s goal was to put pressure on the defendants to settle a MORE
WEBINARS  ( h t t p s : / / w w w. l e g a l f u t u r e s . c o . u k
civil claim he had also brought against them.
/associate-news/what-
The decision was upheld last week by Lord Justice Davis and Mrs measured-ai-looks-like-in-
Justice Stacey in the Administrative Court. todays-legal-practices)
EMM acted for Pradeep Morjaria (PM), a wealthy businessman
resident in Dubai, and his wife in seeking the summonses against
Camran Mirza, his wife, son and their company, Tydwell Ltd, alleging
BSB Entities – Barristers
one count of conspiracy to defraud and six counts of fraud. pursuing public sector
legal work under the
They related to replacement cladding installed by Tydwell on a
Pr o c u re m e n t Ac t 2 0 2 3
property in London that the two families co-owned.
DJ Sternberg had been satis�ed, on the basis of the material /associate-news/bsb-entities-
provided to him in August 2022, that there was prima facie b a r r i s te r s - p u r s u i n g - p u b l i c-
evidence of the offences.
s ec to r - l eg a l - wo r k- u n d e r - t h e -
City �rm Jones Day acts for PM on the civil claim and the district procurement-act-2023)
judge set aside the summonses in January this year on the basis of
subsequently disclosed e-mail correspondence between PM and
both Jones Day and EMM. This followed a court order. 6 ChatGPT prompts for
lawyers
He held that PM’s primary motive in issuing the summonses was to
exert leverage over the defendants to settle the civil claim and not
“a desire to see justice done”. This was an abuse of process. /associate-news/6-chatgpt-
prompts-for-lawyers)
The High Court said: “The judge determined that the attitude of PM
as evidenced by his exchanges with his lawyers whether in the civil
proceedings or in relation to the criminal summonses was the key Expert predicts AI will
indicator of his motivation.” help protect organisations
The failure to make proper disclosure at the time of the application against data breaches in
and the breach of the duty of candour was “serious and substantial”, 2024, but could also
DJ Sternberg found. cause vulnerabilities
However, he stressed: “I do not �nd that the material was
deliberately concealed so as to manipulate the application for a /associate-news/exper t-
summons. Nor do I make any �nding of misconduct against the predicts-ai-will-help-protect-
lawyers acting for the prosecutor in these proceedings.” organisations-against-data-
The High Court described this view as “generous to the lawyers” – breaches-in-2024-but-could-
the material should have been before the district judge at the time also-cause-vulnerabilities
of the application.
It said: “A matter of weeks prior to the application for the issue of Litica strengthens
the summonses, EMM had observed in writing that, if the criminal leadership team with key
court considers that a primary motivation of a criminal prosecution appointments in finance
is to put pressure on the defendant and to obtain a settlement, then
and operations amidst
it will take a dim view of that.
global growth
2 of 6 05/01/2024, 10:11
global growth
“EMM had gone on to say that PM had made it clear many times  ( h t t p s : / / w w w. l e g a l f u t u r e s . c o . u k
that justice was his number one priority yet this was not something /associate-news/litica-
apparent from the e-mail exchanges between EMM and PM and
strengthens-leadership-team-
smacks of disingenuity.
with-key-appointments-in-
“Indeed, PM’s response to EMM at this point was to qualify the finance-and-operations-
proposition that justice was the number one priority.” amidst-global-growth)
This showed that EMM was “alive to the issue of motive and its
impact on the propriety of criminal proceedings”, the court said, and
was “not easy to reconcile” with the case summary served in
support of the issue of the summonses. This document was MORE STORIES
“misleading at best”.
It went on: “The judge may not have found that the failure to
disclose the messages between PM and his lawyers was
manipulation of the application for the summonses or that there
had been misconduct.
“In our view the judge did not exculpate the lawyers. There was a
failure to disclose highly relevant material. That failure was a
serious error irrespective of culpability.”
Any lack of gross culpability on the part of the lawyers did not
mean there was no breach of the duty of candour either, the court
added, but that was a side issue.
The judges rejected the challenge to DJ Sternberg’s decision that
the criminal proceedings were an abuse of process, saying it “cannot
be open to sensible criticism”.
They added: “The fact that there was and is prima facie evidence of
fraud on the part of [Mr Mirza] and others cannot legitimise
criminal proceedings when their purpose was to threaten.”
In a statement, EMM said: “Our �rm was instructed by individuals
who believed themselves to be victims of a sophisticated and long-
running fraud by these defendants.
“Any criticisms made by the defence and court in these early stage
proceedings do not relate to the honesty of the allegation or the
strength of the evidence. Neither court challenged that the
evidence showed a prima facie case of serious and sustained fraud.
“The court stopped this case on the basis that our clients were
motivated by a desire to secure the return of the defrauded funds,
and that they intended the prosecution to induce these defendants
to repay the funds in parallel civil litigation.
“The court found that due to this motivation the case should not be
allowed to proceed to trial despite the strength of the allegations.
“An appeal is currently under consideration and we cannot further
comment on the case at this stage.”
London �rm CANDEY acts for the defendants.
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High Court Criticises Firm For Private Prosecution Disclosure Failure - Legal Futures

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High Court criticises firm for private prosecution disclosure failure - Legal Futures https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/high-court-criticises-firm-for-private-prosecution-disclosu...

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Judge refuses to intervene

Barrister released from

Law firm avoids claim due

CrowdJustice set for

As a lawyer, I could never quite shut down

As King Charles draws a lungful of bracing

When we are all operating in the same

others don’t? /challenges-for-claimants-who-are-not-

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