Berlusconi Challenge to Italian Request for UK Assistance

Peters & Peters acted for Fininvest, an Italian company owned principally by Silvio Berlusconi, in the case of R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex parte Fininvest SpA and others [1997] 1 All ER 942.

It was alleged that over 100bn lire had been removed from Fininvest and used for illegal purposes including corrupt payments. The Italian authorities sent a letter of request to the UK for assistance in obtaining documents held by a company in London. This request was executed by the Serious Fraud Office which seized the relevant documents.

We argued, firstly, that the request amounted to a fishing expedition and, secondly, that the request concerned a political offence and should not, therefore, have been acceded to.

Partners Anand Doobay and Jasvinder Nakhwal acted.