On 14 August 2019 the Australian High Court decided that the
Glencore group could not rely on legal privilege to prevent the
Australian Taxation Office from using part of the so-called
"Paradise Papers", being documents hacked/stolen from the
Bermuda law firm Appleby.
The papers were part of the documents known as the
"Paradise Papers", which were stolen from Appleby's
electronic file management system and provided to an international
consortium of investigative journalists before being further
distributed. Glencore sought an injunction against use by the
Australian Taxation Office.
Glencore argued that the policy consideration supporting legal
professional privilege, including encouraging taxpayers to obtain
full and frank advice, should apply. The Court held that legal
professional privilege is not a legal right that can found a cause
of action, but rather an immunity from the exercise of powers which
could otherwise compel disclosure of the
