Disclosure of unredacted documents—risk of foreign prosecution (Bank Mellat v HM Treasury)

Table of contents

• What are the practical implications of this case?
• What was the background?
• What did the court decide?
• Case details

Article summary

Dispute Resolution analysis: On 15 March 2019, the Court of Appeal handed down a judgment dismissing Bank Mellat’s appeal against a decision of Mrs Justice Cockerill dated 19 September 2018, requiring Bank Mellat (the Bank) to produce unredacted versions of documents (subject to confidentiality provisions including ciphering with a master list) in circumstances where the Bank claimed this would expose them to the risk of criminal prosecution in Iran. Although the court acknowledged that such an order should not lightly be made, a balancing exercise must be undertaken to weigh, on the one hand, the actual risk of prosecution in the foreign state and, on the other, the importance of the documents to the fair disposal of the trial. Written by Philippa Hopkins QC and Helen Morton at Essex Court Chambers.