Ex-attorney General will lead High Court challenge for Bryson
Loyalist charged over allegations surrounding £1.2bn Nama scandal
FORMER Attorney General John Larkin is to represent loyalist Jamie Bryson in a challenge against a decision to prosecute him.
The case is linked to evidence given to a Stormont committee investigating the £1.2bn Nama scandal.
The leading QC, previously the official legal advisor to the Executive Office, is spearheading a High Court challenge to the decision to prosecute Mr Bryson.
Former Sinn Fein MLA Daithi Mckay and north Antrim party member Thomas O’hara are also charged with conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office.
The charges relate to a 2015 Stormont committee hearing when Mr Bryson alleged, under Assembly privilege, that five people stood to benefit from the £7m moved to an offshore bank account as part of the Nama deal. All five denied the allegation. Mr Larkin also sits as a High Court judge after stepping down as Attorney General in June last year.
He is also the senior counsel providing guidance on constitutional law ahead of a judicial review of the Brexit protocol, and is representing TUV leader Jim Allister in the cross-party group of unionist politicians legally challenging the UK Government’s post-brexit trading arrangements.
In a case which legal experts say seems destined for the Supreme Court, it is understood that Mr Larkin will challenge the incompatibility of the charge against Mr Bryson with Human Rights law.
Earlier this month, representing himself during committal proceedings, the loyalist activist argued that the prosecution case was “wrong in law” and that the case should be dismissed on Human Rights grounds, adding that there was “statutory presumption that inquiry evidence would be given in public”.
The loyalist also claimed that the restrictions some members of the committee sought to impose had an “improper motive” of seeking to ensure evidence was not heard by the public.
Acting on behalf of the prosecution in the preliminary investigation, Mr Toby Hedworth QC argued that there was a “prima facie” case to answer and that the matters of law should be left to a Crown Court judge.
District Judge Mark Mcgarrity returned the case to Belfast Crown Court for trial.
However, in papers lodged with the Prosecution Service on March 8, Mr Larkin QC is understood to support the view that Mr Bryson should have succeeded in his application to have the case dismissed.
He will now lead a High Court challenge seeking an order quashing the committal proceedings and prohibiting any further prosecution.
Mr Bryson confirmed last night that Mr Larkin would be representing him, saying: “Whilst I will continue to act on my own behalf in Crown Court proceedings, if they are indeed to proceed, John Larkin QC will lead the High Court challenge and any subsequent Supreme Court proceedings.”
He added: “It is an honour to work with Mr Larkin who was in my view a fantastic Attorney General and is one of the most eminent legal minds of his generation.”
‘I will continue to act on my own behalf in Crown Court proceedings’