Re: "False Bills of Lading Sink Shipping Trio" (The Lawyer 5 July 1999) by Roger Pearson

I was instructed by Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC) for the appeal against the judgment of Mr Justice Cresswell in a case brought by Standard Chartered Bank. The sub-title of the article said Mr Pearson was reporting on an appeal against damages awarded in a shipping case centring on falsely dated bills of lading. The article, however, says little about the appeal and insofar as it mentions it, I am concerned it misses the point.

PNSC was not contesting that it had ante-dated the bill of lading. Rather, that the appeal concerned an issue of alleged wrongdoing by Standard Chartered Bank. It seems the interest of the case is not so much the ante-dating of the bill of lading but the "practice" of Standard Chartered Bank to conceal late presentations from other interested Banks.

The interest is the impact such a practice has on the right to recovery of Standard Chartered Bank against PNSC. In other words, this relates to the maxim ex turpi causa.



Steven N Morris