Monday 30th January 2023

[refitman]

Morning all.

[frog222]

Morning refit
Good one by Edward Lucas on the libel&defamation industry -

Thirteen years on, I still wake up in a cold sweat. Legal bills were rocketing, with millions of pounds at stake if we lost. Our billionaire adversary enjoyed, we had alleged, close Kremlin connections, with all the dark arts that implies. True or not, vital witnesses were scared. So was I.

By the standards of most libel cases, I was lucky. Unlike my friend Catherine Belton (author of Putin’s People and now, deservedly, an MBE), I was not being sued personally. The case was settled satisfactorily. But it was a scarringly close shave. I remain muzzled on the details, and unhappily aware of how easily the wealthy, powerful and unscrupulous can avoid scrutiny.

The revelation that London lawyers gained exemption from sanctions to help a Russian warlord, Evgeny Prigozhin, in a failed attempt to silence Eliot Higgins, the British founder of the Bellingcat open-source investigative journalism collective, is just one illustration of this. So too was Nadhim Zahawi’s attempt to intimidate Dan Neidle, a tax policy campaigner who first investigated the former minister’s offshore financial arrangements.

• Dan Neidle: When I said Zahawi owed the taxman, he set his lawyers on me

Zahawi’s legal tactics alone should have spelt his downfall. A politician should deal with questions openly, not resort to legal cudgels. These included intimidating letters marked “strictly private and confidential”. Luckily, Neidle is himself a lawyer. He published the letters, revealing the blusteringly empty nature of Zahawi’s defence, and the “fibs” (his term) it contained. The false claims — for example that Zahawi was not under HMRC investigation — look even worse now. Lawyers must not lie for their clients.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the- ... -3xvskknp8

[AnatolyKasparov]

Zahawi now reportedly saying he wants to issue an official defence of his actions <gets out popcorn, again>

[refitman]

[AnatolyKasparov]

Ah well, maybe Labour people suggesting this inquiry had to happen wasn't such a hare-brained scheme after all.