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A coalition of senior journalists and editors from across the political spectrum is calling on the Justice Secretary, Dominic Raab, to back proposed legislation to tackle the global super-rich’s use of “abusive legal tactics to stop investigations”.
More than 70 newspaper editors, publishers and media lawyers wrote to Raab on Tuesday demanding that the government take immediate action to stop oligarchs and kleptocrats from using their fortunes to exploit British courts, intimidate and silence investigative journalists with strategic litigation against public partnerships (SLAPs). to do .
In a letter signed by the editors of the Guardian, Daily Mail and Times, Raab called on urgent action to tackle the “endemic” use of slaps, which they said not only hampers investigative journalism but also “the ability of law enforcement. False.” Investigate tasks promptly and effectively.”
The signatories called on Raab to back the proposed “UK anti-slap legislation” and to “move swiftly to enshrine these proposals” on the statute book.
“This is a problem that has long been endemic in newsrooms, publishing houses and civil society organizations,” they wrote. “In an era of increasing financial vulnerability in the news industry, it is all too easy for such abusive legal tactics to shut down investigations and block accountability.”
The Journalist Alliance, which also includes editors from the Sun, Financial Times and Bloomberg, claims that Roman Abramovich sued journalist Catherine Belton over her book Putin’s People and Kazakh mining firm ENRC sued journalist Tom Burgis in recent examples of slaps. His book about “dirty money”.
They said the cases were “the most visible manifestation of a wider problem that has affected Fleet Street and the wider UK media industry for many years”.
Burgess, author of Kleptopia: How Dirty Money Is Conquering the World, said: “From Russia to Saudi Arabia, the rich and powerful use brutality to keep their secrets. For too long they, along with a lot of rich and powerful Westerners, have had another highly effective tool to crush the free press: the British legal system. Now that we realize that our courts are being misused in this way, how can we continue to do so?
Catherine Winner, editor-in-chief of the Guardian, said: “The abuse of the UK legal system by powerful individuals and vested interests to intimidate journalists should be a matter of national shame. The British government has taken this issue seriously for the first time in a generation and this model law provides a clear opportunity for the government to act on its good intentions to pass legislation without delay.
The letter points out that Raab said in March, when he launched a consultation on slaps, that the government “will not tolerate Russian oligarchs and other corrupt elites abusing British courts to embarrass those who shine a light on their wrongdoing”.
When the findings of the consultation were published in July it concluded that “the type of activity known as slaps … goes beyond the parameters of ordinary litigation and poses a threat to freedom of speech and freedom of the press”.
Tom Tugendhat, the Minister of State for Security, last week refused to accept an amendment to the Economic Crimes Bill that would have given judges the power to dismiss slaps. Tugendhat said he agreed the law needed to be amended to deal with the threat of slaps on public interest journalism, but adding an amendment to the Economic Crimes Bill was not appropriate. He said the Ministry of Justice was working on a piece of “anti-slaps legislation” that addressed the entire problem.
Susan Cawtry, deputy director of the Foreign Policy Center (FPC) and co-chair of the UK Anti-Slap Coalition, said: “Two years ago, FPC research identified the UK as the leading international source for legal threats against financial investigative journalists. Crime and corruption.
“The ongoing war in Ukraine is a stark reminder of the devastation that unchecked corruption can cause, sadly too often facilitated by the UK’s financial and legal services. The UK’s adoption of anti-slap legislation will protect those seeking to expose wrongdoing – in any form – and ensure the free flow of information about matters of public interest essential to any healthy democracy.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “This matter is of the utmost importance and is being considered urgently. We intend to introduce legislative proposals as soon as possible.
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