SFO Corruption Case Against Victor Dahdaleh Collapses.

While seconded to Norton Rose Fulbright, Katherine Buckle was part of the legal team representing British-Canadian businessman Victor Dahdaleh, who was acquitted on 10th December 2013 at Southwark Crown Court of charges relating to allegations of multi-million dollar corruption in Bahrain.

The Serious Fraud Office has come under fire after the prosecution collapsed in the sixth week of trial. Mr Dahdaleh was indicted under the Prosecution of Offences Act 1908 for conspiracy to corrupt, in relation to payments made between 1998 and 2006 to the Bahraini Minister for Oil and the CEO of Aluminium Bahrain BSC (of which the Government of Bahrain owned the majority shareholding).

Problems arose when the SFO case manager admitted in cross-examination that he had delegated his disclosure duties in Bahrain to US law firm Akin Gump. Akin Gump were also Mr Dahdaleh's opponents in a hotly contested, ongoing civil action in the US. After two critical witnesses from Akin Gump refused to attend court to be questioned about their disclosure role, the judge required the prosecution to consider their position. Following a two-day adjournment, the SFO offered no further evidence against Mr Dahdaleh and the judge directed the jury to return a verdict of not guilty on all eight counts.

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