The Court of Appeal has given judgment in favour of the Iranian commercial bank Bank Mellat in the most recent instalment in this long-running challenge to the UK’s financial sanctions regime. The Court held, unanimously, that HM Treasury must disclose sufficient information to the Bank as to the basis for sanctions imposed by HM Treasury in 2011 and 2012 to enable the Bank to refute the essential allegations upon which HM Treasury relied, and so to comply with Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The judgment is available here.
The Bank Mellat litigation was featured by The Lawyer as one of the ‘top 20 cases of 2015’. The Supreme Court held in 2013 that earlier sanctions imposed on the Bank by HM Treasury were irrational and disproportionate, and the Bank’s claim for damages against the Treasury under the Human Rights Act 1998 is listed for trial in the Commercial Court in October 2016.
Amy Rogers has acted for the Bank from the outset of these proceedings, and is led by Michael Brindle KC of Fountain Court Chambers and Tim Otty KC of Blackstone Chambers, instructed by Zaiwalla & Co.
