(Corrects "judgement" to "judgment" in paragraph 2)
By Sam Tobin
LONDON, March 6 (Reuters) - Kazakh miner ENRC told a
London court on Monday that Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO)
would not have opened a criminal investigation into the company
if the watchdog had not induced ENRC’s former lawyer to act
against the company's interests.
Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) is suing
the SFO and international law firm Dechert at London’s High
Court following a stinging judgment last year.
Judge David Waksman found that former Dechert lawyer Neil
Gerrard, who conducted an internal investigation for ENRC
between 2011 and 2013, engaged with senior SFO officials without
authority in a "reckless breach of duty".
The judge also found that the SFO induced Gerrard to breach
his duty out of “bad faith opportunism”.
ENRC is now claiming around 21 million pounds ($25.28
million) to cover the costs of “unnecessary” work performed by
Gerrard and his colleagues, which it argues were caused by
Gerrard’s breaches.
The former FTSE 100 company has been under investigation
since 2013 over allegations of bribery and corruption. No
charges have been brought against ENRC or any individuals and
the company denies any wrongdoing.
ENRC's lawyer Nathan Pillow said on Monday that Gerrard's
disclosures to the SFO created a "feedback loop", which sowed
"seeds of doubt in the SFO's mind".
The company argues that it was cooperating with the SFO,
which it says would not have launched a criminal investigation
in April 2013 but for Gerrard's breaches.
The SFO, however. says it had enough material from
publicly-available reports and disclosure provided by ENRC
itself during a self-reporting process to launch the
investigation.
Simon Colton, the SFO's lawyer, also said in court filings
that any losses suffered by ENRC were “solely and exclusively”
caused by the wrongdoing of Gerrard, who retired in 2020, and
Dechert.
Dechert accepts it is liable to pay around 9 million pounds
to ENRC, but argues the SFO should have to pay half of any
damages awarded in relation to breaches committed by both
Gerrard and the SFO.
($1 = 0.8308 pounds)
(Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Susan Fenton)
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