Latest news with #SeriousFraudOffice
1News
14 hours ago
- Politics
- 1News
Auckland mayoral race static as more than 350 vie for council positions
Few big surprises have emerged as more than 350 candidates file nominations for Auckland council positions ahead of tomorrow's deadline for local elections. Wayne Brown faces eight opponents for the mayoralty, but no strong challenge from the right, with his deputy, Desley Simpson, deciding against entering the race in June. Contesting him from the left, his strongest opponent appears to be councillor Kerrin Leoni, who was standing down from her Whau seat after one term to target the mayoralty. Leoni previously told 1News her campaign would ramp up closer to the time of the election. Others nominated include former New Conservatives leader Ted Johnston, the executive president of the Animal Justice Party, and multiple other independent candidates. ADVERTISEMENT Auckland mayor Wayne Brown speaks to 1News. (Source: 1News) This year's mayoral race contrasts starkly with the multi-way match-up voters encountered three years ago. As of 4pm, 358 nominations had been received for candidates running in the local elections from the local board level upwards. Among the hundreds of candidates is disgraced former National MP Jami-Lee Ross, making a foray into local government. Two councillor wards attracted only single candidates at the time of the update — incumbent Greg Sayers in Rodney and deputy mayor Simpson in Ōrākei. Voters in Howick and Whau would have new faces on council with long-time councillor Sharon Stewart retiring and Leoni running for the mayoralty. Auckland Council billboard near Dominion Road couraging people to stand as a candidate in the 2022 local elections. (Source: 1News) ADVERTISEMENT Running under his new political ticket, Fix Auckland, Brown earlier teased that additional candidates could join him around the council table. Brown-affiliated candidates now include Simpson and others in the Albany and Manukau wards. In Albany, Gary Brown and Victoria Short appeared to be angling against incumbents Wayne Walker and John Watson. Meanwhile, in Manukau, Vicky Hau and Luke Mealamu were registered to take on Labour-affiliated candidates Alf Filipaina and Lotu Fuli. The ACT Party was also mounting challenges at council with candidates nominated at both the councillor and local board level. Local board contests drew the bulk of the hundreds of candidates reported, with some featuring notable names, including former MP Jami-Lee Ross, who is standing for the Howick Local Board's Flat Bush subdivision. Ross and six others went on trial in late July on charges brought by the Serious Fraud Office. (Source: 1News) In 2018, Ross left the National Party in an explosive moment for then-leader Simon Bridges. He later started a short-lived political party, Advance NZ, which partnered with Billy Te Kahika's New Zealand Public Party at the 2020 general election. In 2022, Ross was found not guilty of electoral donations fraud after charges by the Serious Fraud Office. ADVERTISEMENT Nominations for local body elections close at noon tomorrow, with voting papers to be sent to households from September 9 ahead of the final day for votes on October 11.
Times
a day ago
- Business
- Times
Overturning of trader verdicts poses questions for prosecutions
From the Post Office scandal to the wrongful convictions of Andrew Malkinson and Peter Sullivan, the UK's criminal justice system has recently grappled with multiple miscarriages of justice. Last week, the Supreme Court overturned the convictions of two traders, Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, for fraud over the alleged manipulation of Libor and Euribor. Other convictions, for the same conduct, are now likely to be quashed. Unlike other miscarriages of justice, Hayes and Palombo were not wrongly convicted because of missing or misleading evidence. They were criminalised because the Serious Fraud Office and the crown court got the law wrong — and the Court of Appeal repeatedly failed to correct it. As the Supreme Court's judgment begins: 'The history of these two cases raises concerns about the effectiveness of the criminal appeal system in England and Wales in confronting legal error.' The 'legal error' in question concerned the fundamental difference between the roles of judge and jury: judges decide the law and juries decide the facts. However, in Hayes's and Palombo's trials, this did not happen. Instead, judges instructed jurors that requests to consider trading positions when estimating rates rendered those estimates, as a matter of law, automatically false. This, the Supreme Court said, was an 'obvious mistake'. The Court of Appeal upheld that wrong approach on five occasions. Until last year, it prevented any of those cases reaching the Supreme Court — unlike civil cases, criminal appeals can only reach the Supreme Court if the Court of Appeal allows it. The Supreme Court's judgment corrects this error, and underlines the importance of juries being left to decide all factual questions. It is also a timely intervention, for two reasons. First, the Law Commission is considering reform of the criminal appeals process. The case of Hayes and Palombo highlights the need for reform of the architecture of criminal appeals itself: starting with removing the Court of Appeal's ability to prevent criminal appeals reaching the Supreme Court. Secondly, Sir Brian Leveson's recent review of the criminal courts recommended that 'serious and complex fraud cases' should be tried by judges sitting alone. These cases were about whether individuals agreed, dishonestly, to lie when submitting estimates to a trade organisation. Those are questions juries are well placed to decide. A jury remains a valuable check on executive power. But whatever the role of juries, these cases also highlight that a fair trial requires fair prosecutors and a robustly independent judiciary. Hayes and Palombo are now innocent men again. But their cases leave uncomfortable questions for the criminal justice system to answer. Ben Rose is a partner at law firm Hickman & Rose; he represented Carlo Palombo in his appeal and is representing Jay Merchant, Jonathan Mathew, Philippe Moryoussef and Christian Bittar, who intend to appeal their convictions
Times
a day ago
- Business
- Times
Quashed convictions expose failings in the justice system
The solicitor who represented Carlo Palombo was adamant about why the Supreme Court last week quashed his conviction — and that of Tom Hayes — for manipulating interest rate benchmarks. 'Unlike other miscarriages of justice,' Ben Rose writes in Times Law today, 'Hayes and Palombo were not wrongly convicted because of missing or misleading evidence. They were criminalised because the Serious Fraud Office and the crown court got the law wrong — and the Court of Appeal repeatedly failed to correct it.' There is no doubt that the Supreme Court's unanimous decision adds Hayes and Palombo to the UK's sad panoply of miscarriages of justice. At least four former traders who were convicted of similar offences are planning to go to court in a bid to clear their names in the wake of last week's ruling.
BBC News
25-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Four more traders appeal rate-rigging convictions after Supreme Court ruling
Four traders are appealing to have their rate-rigging convictions overturned after the Supreme Court quashed two rate-rigging cases on Merchant, Jonathan Mathew, Philippe Moryoussef, and Christian Bittar are seeking acquittal following the victory of traders Tom Hayes and Carlo of the traders were convicted of manipulating the interest rates used for loans between banks, know as Libor in the UK, an issue at the heart of the 2008 financial crisis."Following the Supreme Court's landmark decision yesterday to quash the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, all four of our clients now intend to appeal against their convictions," said law firm Hickman & Rose. "In those circumstances, they don't intend to comment further at this time," the firm four convictions came after an investigation from the Serious Fraud Office into whether traders had been manipulating Libor for became the focus of allegations of wrongdoing following the financial crisis in 2008 and has now been discontinued, while its European equivalent Euribor is being the Supreme Court has now ruled in favour of Mr Hayes and Mr Palombo, the four traders' appeal is likely to be a more straightforward process than for Mr Hayes and Mr Palombo who argued their case for Serious Fraud Office declined to comment on the appeal from the four traders on it said on Wednesday in response to the ruling on Mr Hayes and Mr Palombo's case that it had "considered this judgement and the full circumstances carefully and determined it would not be in the public interest for us to seek a retrial".The Libor scandal came to light in 2012, when it was discovered that banks were artificially inflating rates to profit from trading and were also lowering them to mask the troubles they faced following the outbreak of the global financial in 2023, the BBC uncovered evidence of a much larger, state-led "rigging" of interest rates, under pressure from central banks and governments across the world during the financial Hayes and Mr Palombo argued they were wrongly prosecuted for what were normal commercial practices in order to appease public anger towards the banks over the financial crisis.
Yahoo
24-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Jailed traders mount bid to quash conviction after Supreme Court ruling
Four traders who were jailed for rate-rigging are to appeal their convictions after the Supreme Court quashed similar charges in a landmark case. Jay Merchant, Jonathan Mathew, Philippe Moryoussef and Christian Bittar are all seeking acquittal on appeal, lawyers for the four men said. It follows the Supreme Court's decision to overturn the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, two former investment bank traders, on charges of rigging Libor and Euribor respectively. The pair were found to have not received a fair trial because of how the jury was directed. The convictions came after an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in the aftermath of the financial crisis into claims that traders were manipulating key interest rate benchmarks by submitting false information to the market. Overall, the case led to nine convictions for fraud, with two traders pleading guilty and the rest found guilty by juries. Merchant and Mathew were ex-Barclays traders found guilty of conspiracy to defraud in 2016 after a three-month trial at Southwark Crown Court. The judge ruled that the pair had conspired to manipulate the London interbank offered rate, known as Libor, which was once used to price more than £270tn of financial products globally. Mathew was given a four-year sentence, while Merchant was given a six and a half years. Merchant, who was born in India, renounced his British citizenship and was deported in 2018. Moryoussef, also an ex-Barclays trader, and Christian Bittar, who formerly worked for Deutsche Bank, were found guilty of conspiracy to defraud in relation to the euro interbank offered rate, known in the City as Euribor. Moryoussef was sentenced in 2018 to eight years in jail, with the judge saying: 'Greed was clearly his principal motivation. Although his income was more than generous by anyone's standards, he thought he deserved more.' Bittar was sentenced to five years and four months. On Thursday night, a lawyer representing the group said: 'Following the Supreme Court's landmark decision yesterday to quash the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, all four of our clients now intend to appeal against their convictions.' Mr Hayes, who served five and a half years in prison for fraud, said after the Supreme Court ruling that all those jailed on similar charges to his should have their convictions overturned. The SFO, which was contacted for comment, said earlier this week: 'We have considered this judgment and the full circumstances carefully and determined it would not be in the public interest for us to seek a retrial.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
