Hot on the heels of the Court of Appeal's decision in
SFO v ENRIC earlier this month, legal
professional privilege has once been under the microscope in a
recent High Court case, The Financial Reporting Council Limited
v Sports Direct International Plc [2018] EWHC 2284 (Ch).
Background
The Financial Reporting Council Ltd
(“FRC“) is the regulatory body for
statutory auditors and audit work, which is conducting an
investigation of Grant Thornton UK LLP
(“GT“).
The FRC is investigating concerns regarding the failure of GT to
disclose a relationship between related parties in its audit of the
financial statements of Sports Direct International Plc
(“SDI”) for the year ending 24 April
2016. The relationship in question concerns the engagement of a
delivery company owned by the brother of SDI’s director and
majority shareholder, by one of SDI’s subsidiaries,
Sportsdirect.com Retail Ltd.
