Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Bryson & Mckay must face misconduct trial
Judges dismiss bid to quash case
A LOYALIST activist and a former MLA have lost a legal battle to halt their prosecution over an alleged attempt to subvert an inquiry into a billion pound property deal.
Jamie Bryson and ex-sinn Fein man Daithi Mckay were seeking to quash decisions to return them for trial accused of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office.
But senior judges rejected claims there was insufficient evidence and the committal process had been unfair.
Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan said: “We cannot see that there was any unfairness or prejudice caused.
“This has been an unnecessary distraction in a case which is important and which should now be brought to a conclusion.
“We accept the point that there was no express Assembly rule prohibiting contact with a witness, however it is obvious that this case goes beyond contact between committee members and witnesses into an alleged manipulation of the committee process itself.
“There was enough to justify committing the applicants for trial. Overall we do not consider the District Judge has fallen into error in applying the statutory test.”
Proceedings relate to a Stormont Finance Committee inquiry into the £1.2billion sale of the National Asset Management Agency’s Northern Ireland property loan portfolio to US investment giant Cerberus.
In September 2015, Mr Bryson gave
evidence at the hearing chaired by Mr Mckay.
Using parliamentary privilege, he made an unsubstantiated claim about who was set to profit from the deal.
After a police investigation Bryson, Mckay and Sinn Fein member Thomas O’hara were charged with conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office.
The prosecution centres on Twitter messages they allegedly exchanged before the evidence-giving session.
Judicial review challenges were mounted after a district judge determined earlier this year that they should stand trial at the Crown Court.
Lawyers for Bryson and Mckay argued a change in the specifics of the charge rendered the committal process unfair.
It was also claimed there was insufficient evidence and that the decision breached the European Convention on Human Rights.
During a two-day hearing judges were told tweets do not establish a criminal offence of misconduct in a public office.
Bryson’s barrister claimed it was a miscarriage of justice to try someone for an offence which does not exist.
The court heard he was telling the truth on an issue of public importance.
Prosecution counsel labelled the challenge as a dangerous attempt to thwart and end the criminal process.
He insisted a trial is necessary to examine any alleged attempts to subvert the Stormont inquiry, with legal safeguards available in the Crown Court.
We cannot see there was any unfairness or prejudice caused DAME SIOBHAN KEEGAN HIGH COURT YESTERDAY