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Production order illegal

01 May 1994

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A judge's grant of a search and seizure order for documents held by solicitors and accountants was unlawful, and the Home Secretary, who had directed police to apply for it, should pay the costs, ruled the High Court in March. The Home Secretary was responding to a request by the Australian authorities to obtain documents which they believed relevant to suspected offences of tax evasion when he told police to get a warrant under the Criminal Justice (International Cooperation) Act 1990. But there was no prior approach to the solicitors or the accountants holding the material, and no evidence that they would not have handed the documents over voluntarily. The Court said the order should not have been applied for or granted.

R v Central Criminal Court ex p Propend Financy Pty Ltd, Independent 29.3.94.

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