Nigeria blocked from appealing High Court’s £1.4bn JP Morgan ruling July 5, 2022 A High Court has blocked the Federal Republic of Nigeria from appealing the court’s decision last month to dismiss its $1.7bn (£1.4bn) claim against JP Morgan, over claims the bank acted negligently by paying $875m into a bank account linked to a convicted money launderer. The High Court said Nigeria had “no real prospect” of [...]
Bird & Bird hands staff £1,000 each to deal with UK’s cost-of-living crunch July 5, 2022 London law firm Bird & Bird is set to pay £1,000 bonuses to more than 300 of its staff to help them deal with the cost-of-living crisis. The law firm said it will give £1,000 “cost of living allowance” payments to all employees who earn less £50,000 per annum this month, to help them manage [...]
MoJ denies telling court staff to hand over names of striking barristers July 4, 2022 The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has denied telling court staff to name striking barristers, after the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) threatened legal action over claims that any such instruction would breach UK data protection laws. An MoJ spokesperson said any claims the Justice Secretary or the MoJ told court staff to report the names of barristers who fail [...]
Covid loan fraudsters should turn themselves in to avoid harsher penalties, lawyers say July 4, 2022 Individuals who defrauded the government’s Covid support schemes should consider turning themselves in to avoid even harsher penalties, amid a far-reaching crackdown on those responsible for making fraudulent claims, lawyers have said. The comments come after figures from the UK’s Insolvency Service showed the executive agency has struck off a total of 179 company directors, [...]
UK Foreign Office to pay £423,000 to settle whistleblower’s employment claim July 4, 2022 The UK government has agreed to pay £423,000 to settle an employment lawsuit brought forward by one of its former prosecutors, over claims she was pushed out of her job at the Foreign Office, after she sought to blow the whistle on corruption involving suspected Kosovo criminals and officials from the EU. International prosecutor Mariah [...]
Staffing agencies slam govt’s plans to use agency staff as strikebreakers June 30, 2022 Staffing agencies have hit out at the government’s plans to lift a ban on using agency staff as strike breakers. In a letter to the government seen by Morning Wire, a group of the world’s biggest staffing agencies slammed the plans, put forward by business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, to overturn laws banning agency staff from [...]
UK government is failing to match words with action in stamping out dirty money, MPs say June 30, 2022 The UK government is failing to match its rhetoric with real efforts to crack down on dirty money, MPs have warned. The government is continuing to let the UK become a “safe deposit box” for morally bankrupt billionaires, despite its rhetoric around “clamping down” on Russian money, the Foreign Affairs Committee said. The committee said [...]
UK’s charity watchdog opens probe into Captain Tom Foundation June 30, 2022 The UK’s charities watchdog has launched an investigation into The Captain Tom Foundation, over concerns about potential conflicts of interest involving the late Army officer’s family. The Charity Commission today said it had opened an inquiry into The Captain Tom Foundation over concerns about the charity’s management. The watchdog said a company that is controlled [...]
UK should ban facial recognition technology until clear legal framework is set, new report says June 29, 2022 The UK should ban all use of facial recognition technology until a clear legal framework has been developed to regulate it, an independent report has said. A new report from the Ada Lovelace Institute has said there is an “urgent” need for a new framework governing “biometric” technologies – including facial recognition technologies – before [...]
Slater & Gordon shakes up boardroom after setting out plans to split June 29, 2022 Slater & Gordon has said company chief executive David Whitmore will step down from his position, after setting out plans to split its business in two, with a view to separating its “essential” and “specialist” legal services segments. The law firm said Whitmore – who took up his CEO role in January 2018 – will [...]