Production order illegal (1)

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Production order illegal
artdoc July=1994

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.

Statewatch, vol 4 no 3, May-June 1994

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