What an appalling week for the SFO, still battling away trying to defend a £300 million claim brought by the Tchenguiz brothers in connected with the criminal investigation into their affairs instigated by prosecution agency in 2011.
The Times reports on 12 July 2013, that Slaughter & May, who act for the SFO, applied for a further extension of time in order to review and serve disclosure upon lawyers for the Tchenguiz brothers. They explained to Mr Justice Eder that they faced a mammoth task, and even more importantly there were fundamental concerns regarding the attribution of sensitive documentation from other investigation/prosecution agencies and their inability to identify the source of that information. The Court agreed to that request and they now have until December 2013 to review and provide the necessary information.
Additionally, the Financial Times reports that Grant Thornton, whose report on the Tchenguiz brothers’ business activities triggered the SFO investigation in the first place, are now issuing proceedings against the SFO, seeking to prevent the publication of the report and the detail which the SFO noted from it. That information is the basis of the SFO’s defence against the brothers’ claim.
One wonders how long it will be before the SFO finally ‘throw in the towel’, stop wasting tax payers’ money and settle these proceedings.
Then to top it all, Chris Grayling, the Minister for Justice, has just tasked them with the investigation of the multimillion SERCO/GS4 tagging debacle!
It would, however, provide the SFO with an excellent opportunity to try out their new Deferred Prosecution Agreement facility and levy some US regulator style fines... just a thought!
