London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Jul 24, 2025

Move to add free speech protections to UK anti-corruption bill

Move to add free speech protections to UK anti-corruption bill

MPs say additions to economic crime bill would help prevent oligarchs and others using ‘intimidation lawsuits’

Free speech amendments have been tabled for inclusion in anti-corruption legislation due before parliament next week, after ministers promised to reform Britain’s legal system to prevent “intimidation lawsuits”.

The Labour MP Liam Byrne and the Conservative MP David Davis tabled two amendments to the economic crime bill, which will be put to a first vote on Monday.

In a joint statement on the amendments, they said: “We’re determined to build a cross-party coalition to ensure the reforms before parliament, designed to expunge from London the problem of dirty money, ensure that oligarchs of any nation can no longer use the English legal system against ordinary citizens, journalists and civil servants to silence free speech.”

The first amendment would require the government to institute an inquiry into so-called Slapp (strategic litigation against public participation) cases intended to intimidate journalists and campaigners.

The second would protect an individual disclosing otherwise confidential information from the offshore property register, if they could show the disclosure was in the public interest.

The main measure in the economic crime bills is the creation of a register of individuals owning UK property through offshore companies and other secrecy devices. The purpose of the register is to make it harder for criminal elements and corrupt foreign officials to launder money through London’s property sector.

During a parliamentary debate on Russian sanctions on Tuesday, MPs accused three solicitors, Geraldine Proudler of CMS, Nigel Tait of Carter-Ruck and John Kelly of Harbottle & Lewis, of deliberately filing oppressive legal actions against an investigative journalist in an attempt to intimidate her. Similar allegations were also made against the barrister Hugh Tomlinson QC.

The justice secretary, Dominic Raab, promised on Thursday to bring forward proposals to change the English legal system so as to prevent Slapp cases.

He said: “We will not have people close to [Vladimir] Putin coming here to try and bankrupt people who shine a light on his excesses. It’s about oligarchs and kleptocrats who get together and try to sue people who shine a light.”


There is no established legal definition of a Slapp case, though they are typically considered to refer to cases intended to deter criticism or scrutiny by exploiting England’s enormously expensive court system to harass journalists with legal costs.

The four lawyers accused by the MPs of abusive practices in parliament were involved in simultaneous legal actions against Catherine Belton, the investigative journalist and former Moscow correspondent of the Financial Times.

Belton published a highly acclaimed book, Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and then Took on the West, which documented Putin’s consolidation of domestic power and his relationship with Russia’s oligarchs.

The book was publicly endorsed by the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The four lawyers all assisted various legal cases filed against against Belton or her publishers Harper Collins on behalf of different Russian clients.

Both Kelly and Tait said it was unfair to describe their legal work as Slapps, because such cases were generally defined as being groundless, while Belton and HarperCollins had settled complaints from their respective clients Roman Abramovich and the oil firm Rosneft. The lawyers said they had not coordinated their respective legal actions.

Further allegations were also made against Proudler, who sued the anti-corruption activist Bill Browder on behalf of a Russian police officer in 2013 after Browder accused him of participating in a fraud on his investment firm, Hermitage Capital Management.

In the January debate on abusive litigation practices, Byrne said the police officer’s annual salary at the time he hired Proudler was between £15,000 and £20,000, while her legal firm charged £600 a hour. Byrne said the officer failed to pay his legal bill after losing his case.

“There must be some kind of weakness there, which we need to fix if we are to ensure that lawyers can genuinely understand the source of the money that is paying their bills,” the MP said.

Proudler did not respond to questions from the Guardian about the allegations made against her in parliament. She resigned this week from both the board of the Guardian Foundation, the charitable arm of the media group’s parent company, as well as from the Scott Trust review panel, which adjudicates editorial complaints.

“Geraldine Proudler, whose term of office was due to end in April 2022, has now stepped down from the Guardian Foundation board after nine years,” a spokesperson for the foundation said. “The Guardian Foundation is very grateful for her many years of service.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
TSUNAMI: Trump Just Crossed the Rubicon—And There’s No Turning Back
Over 120 Criminal Cases Dismissed in Boston Amid Public Defender Shortage
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
Trump Announces $550 Billion Japanese Investment and New Trade Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
×