ENRC applies for judicial review in legal fight with SFO

THE Kazakh mining giant ENRC has begun a new attempt to frustrate a criminal investigation of alleged corruption in its African business.

The former FTSE 100 company has applied to the High Court for a judicial review of Serious Fraud Office decision-making in the case.

ENRC aims to force the SFO to reinstate an independent review of its investigation. The outside examination was scrapped earlier this year over claims it had been made redundant by civil court action.

The company has also called on the High Court to bar the SFO from bringing corruption charges until its findings are delivered.

The application is the latest stage of a running legal battle between prosecutors and ENRC, which is now privately held by a trio of Kazakh tycoons.

ENRC said in its claim for judicial review: “It would be unlawful for the SFO investigation team to take any charging decisions arising from or in relation to the criminal investigation without getting to the bottom of the serious concerns of wrongdoing.”

The firm alleges various breaches of process by the SFO, including collusion between investigators and the miner’s former lawyers, poor record-keeping and the loss of key pieces of evidence.

Last year, the SFO agreed to appoint Sir David Calvert-smith, the former director of public prosecutions, to independently review its handling of the ENRC case. But the work was abandoned in June, shortly after the firm launched a separate civil claim for damages totalling £70m.

ENRC mines aluminium ore in Kazakhstan, as well as cobalt and copper in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Investigators are understood to be focused on claims that ENRC paid bribes to acquire African mining rights. No charges have yet been brought, and the company denies any wrongdoing.

A spokesman for the SFO said: “The SFO does not accept ENRC’S position in its judicial review claim, and our investigation is ongoing.”