Richard Sallybanks, partner at BCL Solicitors representing John Scouler, Tesco’s former Commercial Food Director, spoke to The Times Newspaper to explain how deeply unfair it was that after his client had been acquitted he was still named in the DPA.

Below is a short excerpt from the article* that can be found in full on The Times website.

‘Richard Sallybanks, a partner at BCL Solicitors, who represented Mr Scouler, said that it was deeply unfair that although his client had been acquitted the DPA published today still named him and his former colleagues as culpable for the fraud.

“Serious issues can be raised as to the fairness of the DPA process,” he said. “Despite his acquittal, Mr Scouler finds himself labelled as culpable in a private agreement . . . which the SFO concluded with Tesco before the SFO’s evidence was heard, and where the process deprives him of any ability to remedy this unfairness.”’

*This article was first published by The Times on 23rd January 2019. Full details can be found here.

Richard Sallybanks is a partner at BCL Solicitors LLP specialising in complex business crime and regulatory defence work. Richard has been involved in numerous SFO, FCA, HMRC & CMA investigations and prosecutions, together with associated restraint and confiscation proceedings. His recent SFO experience includes the Alstom, Barclays Qatar, and Tesco investigations (acting for senior individuals under suspicion), as well as acting for Robert Tchenguiz in the SFO’s Kaupthing Bank investigation (including the successful Judicial Review challenge to SFO search warrants). Richard has acted in a number of FCA criminal and regulatory investigations for brokers, traders and senior executives, including in relation to allegations of insider dealing and market abuse. He is experienced in cartel investigations, both domestic investigations conducted by the CMA and cross-border anti-trust investigations (including those conducted by the US DoJ). Richard is also experienced in the international mutual legal assistance regime, and in leading and co-ordinating teams of lawyers in multi-jurisdictional investigations.