Nadhim Zahawi’s lawyer from Osborne Clarke who made headlines after threatening tax expert Dan Neidle with libel now faces a disciplinary tribunal.
Neidle, a tax lawyer, formerly of magic circle firm Clifford Chance, revealed back in July 2022 that the lawyers of the former Chancellor of the Exchequer had been threatening him with libel action over Zahawi’s tax affairs.
Since that, the former Tory party chairman’s tax affairs became a scandal, forcing the Prime Minister to order an investigation into Zahawi in early 2023. He was dismissed from his roles after it was revealed he had breached the Ministerial Code by failing to disclose that he was being investigated by HMRC while he served as Chancellor.
Speaking to the BBC on Sunday, the former Chancellor said he paid nearly £5m to HMRC to settle his tax affairs.
Neidle deemed the letters sent to him to be Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs), a term given to defamation cases and legal threat that are generally brought against journalists and campaigners as a form of intimidation by wealthy individuals.
He referred Zahawi’s lawyers, Osborne Clarke, to the legal regulator, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). It has now been revealed that the SRA intends to refer an individual to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) over this matter.
The SDT is an independent statutory tribunal that has the power to strike a solicitor’s name off the Roll, suspend a solicitor from practice, impose restrictions upon practise, fine or reprimand a solicitor.
Commenting on the news, a Osborne Clarke spokesperson said: “We are disappointed with the SRA’s decision to refer this matter to the tribunal, and we disagree with the basis and reasoning for the referral. We have carefully considered and investigated the matter with external advisers and are confident that the partner acted within the established law and practice in this area, a view supported by an independent leading media law King Counsel.”
“We consider that the partner concerned behaved fairly and appropriately in his communications with the third party and did not seek to mislead or take unfair advantage in any way. At no time did he provide any tax planning advice. We fully support and stand behind the partner in his defence of this matter, they added.
This all comes after it was announced on Monday that Zahawi has been appointed by the billionaire Barclay family to chair The Very Group. He also recently announced that he would be standing down at the next General Election.