In one of the most high profile of the oligarch disputes before an English Court, an application by Oleg Deripaska for permission to judicially review the DPP’s decision to take over and discontinue the private prosecution of their client, Vladimir Chernukhin was successfully resisted.
Mr Deripaska’s attempt to challenge the DPP’s decision came after he instituted a private prosecution alleging that Mr Chernukhin had perverted the course of justice by relying on false documents during the course of arbitration and Commercial Court proceedings between the two over the ownership of significant property holdings in Moscow and which was determined in Mr Chernukhin’s favour.
In rejecting Mr Deripaska’s application, Mrs Justice Tipples DBE agreed with Sir Ross Cranston, who had refused permission on the papers because the private prosecution “had all the hallmark of a party in the civil courts continuing the battle in the criminal courts”.
The case provides important guidance to those considering the use of the criminal justice system for collateral purposes.
William Boyce QC and Karen Robinson represented the Specialist Fraud Division of the Crown Prosecution Service and Jocelyn Ledward was instructed on behalf of Vladimir Chernukhin, instructed by Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP.
William Boyce KC
Karen Robinson
Jocelyn Ledward KC