Dechert ex-partner leaked to press and ‘plainly lied’ in court – judge

Dechert’s former head of white-collar crime Neil Gerrard deliberately leaked confidential information about his client Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) to the press and the Serious Fraud Office –  and ‘plainly lied’ in cross-examination, the High Court ruled today.

Gerrard, 67, was found to have been ‘negligent and for the most part reckless’ in unnecessarily expanding his investigation into allegations of bribery and corruption in relation to the mining giant’s operations in Kazakhstan and the Democratic Republic of Congo in an excoriating judgment delivered this afternoon.

Gerrard, a former Metropolitan Police officer, was also negligent in relation to his failure to record his advice in writing, giving incorrect advice about ENRC’s potential criminal liability and failing to determine the scope of the SFO’s concerns about the then-FTSE 100 company.

He was further found to have ‘acted deliberately’ by not informing ENRC that its then-global head of compliance, Cary Depel, was being interviewed by the SFO and to have ‘lied’ to the court when he said he did not remember a text sent to him by Depel.

Read more at  https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/dechert-ex-partner-leaked-to-press-and-plainly-lied-in-court-judge/5112504.article