Saima Hanif & Ravi Jackson, acting for a SKAT defendant, defeat FCA in rare Judicial Review victory

Saima Hanif, leading Ravi Jackson, successfully represented the claimants in a Judicial Review against the FCA. The Court ordered a stay of the FCA investigation pending the outcome of a preliminary issue trial in the $2 billion SKAT ‘dividend arbitrage’ litigation in the Commercial Court.

This is the first time the Administrative Court has considered a stay of the FCA’s investigatory process, and is a rare example of a Court exercising its jurisdiction to stay a regulatory investigation.

The case is only the second ever successful Judicial Review of the FCA since the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 came into force. The other was Ford v FSA, where Saima also acted for the successful claimant. The proceedings have been widely reported in the financial press, including the FT (here) and Law360 (here).

The judgment, handed down by Mr Justice Swift, the Judge in charge of the Administrative Court, is available here.

On 15 March 2021, Saima will be appointed as Queen’s Counsel.