Mahon and another v Rahn and others. High Court, Queen's Bench Division: Eady J

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/eb025032
Published date01 January 2000
Date01 January 2000
Pages78-81
AuthorJoanna Gray
Subject MatterAccounting & finance
Regulatory & Legal Commentary
Defamation proceedings in respect of letter
to regulator
Mahon and another v Rahn and others
High Court, Queen's Bench Division: Eady J
Joanna Gray
Reader in Financial Regulation, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle Law School,
21-24 Windsor Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU; tel: 0191 222 7685;
fax: 0191 212 0064 or tel:/fax: 01669 650 349; e-mail: joanna.gray@newcastle.ac.uk
Journal of Financial Regulation and Compliance Volume 8 Number 1
FACTS
The claimants in these proceedings were a
Mr Patrick Mahon and Mr Andrew Kent.
The Defendants were partners in the Swiss
Bank of Rahn & Bodmer. At the time in
which the events giving rise to these pro-
ceedings occurred they were respectively,
managing director and corporate develop-
ment manager of TC Coombs, a London-
based firm of stockbrokers over which, at
that time, the Securities Association (TSA)
had regulatory jurisdiction. The Securities
Association subsequently merged with the
Association of Futures Brokers and Dealers
to become the Securities and Futures
Authority (SFA). One of TC Coombs'
clients, a Mr Johnson, was under investiga-
tion by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in
early 1990. Mr Johnson had been involved
in a complex transaction which involved a
meeting between him, Mr Kent and Dr
Rhan from the Swiss Bank at the bank's
offices. Unsuccessful criminal proceedings
centred around that transaction were
brought against the claimants but the judge
in those proceedings ruled that the claim-
ants had no case to answer.
The defamation claim which forms part
of these proceedings was begun at the end
of 1993 in the wake of the collapse of those
criminal proceedings and related to a letter
allegedly sent on behalf of the Defendants
in December 1990 to Mrs Rosalind Wright
of TSA. It was claimed by the claimants
that the letter contained an inaccurate and
misleading account of TC Coombs' deal-
ings with the Defendants and that the
Defendants had deliberately withheld
documents from TSA and SFO in order to
allege that the transaction involving Mr
Johnson was fraudulent. This letter had
been disclosed to the claimants before the
trial of the criminal proceedings against
them commenced and was read out in
open court during those proceedings.
THE ACTION
These proceedings had previously been
struck out in June 1996 on the grounds
that since the letter to the regulator was
disclosed by the prosecution to the claim-
ants in the context of criminal proceedings
Journal of Financial Regulation
and Compliance, Vol. 8, No. 1,
2000, pp. 78-83
© Henry Stewart Publications,
1358-1988
Page 78

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