Serious Fraud Office settles alleged media leaks trial at eleventh hour

On the eleventh hour, Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) has settled its dispute with the Serious Fraud Office, bringing an end an eternal legal action.

The Serious Fraud Office was defending itself against the claims of misfeasance in a public office, conspiracy and breach of confidence, to which it “strongly” denied.

Former Serious Fraud Office employee John Gibson, now a partner at Cohen & Gresser, and Tony Puddicstill, who is still a senior SFO investigator, were also set to defend the claims against them.

The case was at the High Court on Monday, set for a seven week trial, the court was set to hear allegations including Gibson arranging to meet with Guardian journalist Tom Burgis.

Despite that, the judge was informed that the parties were in discussion to reach a settlement.

Mr Justice Bryan was told that the main elements of the settlement has been agreed, but some terms needed discussing. He allowed the parties an extra day for discussions, to which they have since reached.

The settlement agreed today is confidential, and is currently waiting on approval from the judge.

The case stems from the long-running civil dispute launched by ENRC in 2018 against the Serious Fraud Office, law firm Dechert, and former partner Neil Gerrard over alleged misconduct.

The case was broken into three parts, with Mr Justice Waksman issuing a judgment in 2022, that found senior SFO officers acted on “bad faith opportunism” by holding meetings with third parties to pass on “intelligence” gathered on ENRC.

Despite the settlement for this trial, back in December, the High Court found that the agency would not have opened an investigation into a Kazakh mining firm but for the wrongdoing of its officers.

Last August, after 10 years, the SFO dropped its probe into the Kazakh mining company.

A spokesperson for ENRC commented: “ENRC is pleased to report that a confidential settlement has been reached on the terms set out in the consent order.”

While a Serious Fraud Office spokesperson said: “Throughout this case we robustly defended the claims. A confidential settlement has now been agreed.”