On 31 January 2025, the High Court (Yip J) quashed criminal proceedings initiated by a private prosecutor against Mr Tony Bates, former CFO of Hibu plc, the publisher of Yellow Pages. The proceedings had commenced five months earlier in August 2024, when Mr Bates was issued with a summons to appear at Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court. The summons, obtained by a former shareholder of the company, alleged ten charges of fraud (worth over £1 billion) and false accounting in relation to Mr Bates’ tenure as CFO over a decade ago.
At an initial Magistrates' Court hearing, the District Judge declined to set aside the summons and transferred the case to Reading Crown Court for trial, following which Adrian was instructed for Mr Bates by Herbert Smith Freehills. An application for judicial review was subsequently filed in September 2024, challenging the decision to grant the summons and the refusal to set it aside. The High Court heard the matter on 23 January 2025.
Mr Bates was represented at the judicial review hearing by Adrian Darbishire KC (QEB Hollis Whiteman), Stuart Biggs (Cloth Fair Chambers), instructed by Herbert Smith Freehills. On 31 January 2025, the High Court ruled in Mr Bates' favour, quashing the criminal proceedings. In her judgment, Mrs Justice Yip described the private prosecution as "misconceived, vexatious and abusive," noting that the prosecutor had "produced no evidence at all" to support the allegations. The question of costs is to be determined at a later hearing.
A full copy of the judgement can be found here.
Adrian Darbishire KC