Hafner & Ors, R (on the application of) v City of Westminsters' Court & Anor

Facts

The first claimant, Benno Hafner, is a Swiss lawyer and a partner in Hafner and Hochstrasser, the second claimant. In 2003 the Australian Securities and Investments Commission began investigating Rene Rivkin (who died on 1 May 2005), Trevor Kennedy and Graham Richardson, alleging that Mr Rivkin and Mr Kennedy had used Swiss financial institutions to hold shares in an Australian company so as to conceal their beneficial ownership, and that all three had committed perjury. On 17 December 2004 the Attorney General of Australia made a request for assistance in obtaining evidence in the United Kingdom under section 13 of the Crime (International Co-Operation) Act 2003, supplemented on 18 April 2005, seeking documents and answers to 554 questions from two employees of Mees Pierson Intertrust Limited in London. The claimants learned that they featured in the request and objected that the material included matter subject to legal professional privilege and Swiss confidentiality, engaging their rights under Article 8 of the Convention. Following an order of Collins J of 24 November 2006 embodying a procedure agreed between the claimants and ASIC, District Judge Purdy declined to adopt the agreed directions and on 27 March 2007 ruled that all the material fell within the request and that Article 8 was "not engaged in any way, shape or form". Judicial review of that decision was restored, permission to amend having been granted by Silber J on 10 September 2007.