Four businessmen involved in the Digi-tech investment scheme are going to the Supreme Court in a bid to recover more of the costs they incurred in successfully defending fraud and money laundering charges brought by the Serious Fraud Office.
Last year the Court of Appeal slashed the costs
awarded to John Anthony Reid, Peter William Russel, John Donald Currie and Peter Michael Connolly after they were acquitted on the charges. The costs were never settled but were estimated at between $500,000 and $1 million.
However, the Court of Appeal late last year ruled that Reid and Russel should receive no costs and Currie and Connolly should receive just $50,000 each, an amount they said was a fraction of their expenses.
Connolly confirmed he and the other three men had been granted leave to take the case to the Supreme Court.
Also, a cross appeal from the SFO seeking to have the $50,000 awarded to Connolly and Currie withdrawn had been dismissed.
Connolly said the hearing would probably take place later this year.
Justice John Fogarty in the High Court had said he was not persuaded of a conspiracy to defraud investors.
The Court of Appeal's decision drew fire from some commentators because two of three Court of Appeal judges who ruled on the matter said the costs should be reduced because they could lead to the SFO exercising greater caution in the investigation and prosecution of alleged serious and complex fraud, "something that we do not regard as in the public interest".
