The President of the High Court, Mr Justice Peter Kelly, recently delivered judgment regarding information produced by the respondent, Mr Leslie Buckley, former Chairman of Independent News and Media plc ("INM"), to the Director of Corporate Enforcement (the "Director") over which the respondent had asserted legal privilege.
Background
The Director had requested the production of documents by the respondent under section 780 of the Companies Act 2014 (the “Act”) which sets out the Director's power to require a third party to produce books or documents. The documents sought formed part of an investigation by the Director initiated in response to a protected disclosure made by former INM chief executive officer, Mr Robert Pitt, under whistle-blower legislation.
Mr Buckley produced the documents to the Director. However, he asserted legal privilege in respect of 11 documents on the basis that they were legally privileged "for the purposes of providing instructions and obtaining legal
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