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SFO faces £10m legal bill on collapsed pharma investigation

Waste of public money The amount of public money and resource that has gone into this investigation cannot be underestimated. A Parliamentary question in 2006 revealed, at that stage, the SFO had spent £14m on the case. Since then the case has been all the way to the House of Lords and back resulting in the refusal by the Court of Appeal on 3 December 20078 to grant leave. This case is an all too clear example of how old–style investigations, which the new Director of the SFO intends to change have not been effective. Whilst this ruling is no doubt a setback to the SFO it is one that is likely to galvanise the Director in his commitment in achieving a fundamental reform of the way the SFO work going forward.

4-Dec-2008

3:14 pm