Compensation payments made in 2022 (FOI)

Request  

A

Recently the States Police made some unlawful searches of property belonging to Roman Abramovich and it was made public that Roman was to be compensated financially and out of public funds. 

Curiously the sum involved was not mentioned.

Can this amount be made public please?

B

Also there was recently an assault case lost in the Royal Court and again the costs circa £150K were to be taken from public funds. 

I would presume that this is just one fund so can all the losses and compensations incurred by public departments for example, Police, Greffe, Courts, and so on for all of 2022 be provided and any information inexorably linked for example case lost [redacted] compensated £150K.

Response 

A

The requested information is contained in confidential documents and revealing them would be a contempt of court. Article 29(c) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied and a response is declined. Additionally, Article 42(a) and (b) of Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied. 

B

Compensation Payments made under the direction of the Court are exempt under the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011, Article 24 has been applied. Other Compensation Payments are included in Losses and Special Payments disclosures in the Annual Report and Accounts. 

Articles applied 

Article 24 - Court information 

(1)     Information is absolutely exempt information if it is held by a scheduled public authority only by virtue of being contained in a document –

(a)     filed with, or otherwise placed in the custody of, a court; or

(b)     served upon, or by, the scheduled public authority, in proceedings in a particular cause or matter.

(2)     Information is absolutely exempt information if it is held by a scheduled public authority only by virtue of being contained in a document created by –

(a)     a court; or

(b)     a member of the administrative staff of a court, in proceedings in a particular cause or matter.

(3)     Information is absolutely exempt information if it is held by a scheduled public authority only by virtue of being contained in a document –

(a)     placed in the custody of; or

(b)     created by, a person conducting an inquiry or arbitration, for the purposes of the inquiry or arbitration.

(4)     In this Article – 

"arbitration" means arbitration to which Part 2 of the Arbitration (Jersey) Law 1998 applies;

"court" includes any tribunal in which legal proceedings may be brought;

"inquiry" means an inquiry or a hearing held under an enactment;

"proceedings in a particular cause or matter" includes an inquest or post-mortem examination. 

Article 29 - Other prohibitions or restrictions 

Information is absolutely exempt information if the disclosure of the information by the scheduled public authority holding it – 

(a)     is prohibited by or under an enactment;

(b)     is incompatible with a European Union or an international obligation that applies to Jersey; or

(c)        would constitute or be punishable as a contempt of court 

Article 42 -Law enforcement 

Information is qualified exempt information if its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice – 

(a)     the prevention, detection or investigation of crime, whether in Jersey or elsewhere;

(b)     the apprehension or prosecution of offenders, whether in respect of offences committed in Jersey or elsewhere; 

Public interest test

Article 42 is a qualified exemption and as such a prejudice test has been conducted as required by law. We have assessed whether, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in supplying the information is outweighed by the prejudice that would likely result by doing so. It is recognised that there is a public interest in transparency and accountability to the general public by providing confirmation that necessary actions are taking place. However, this must be balanced against potential prejudice to any existing or future criminal investigations. We have concluded that the public interest in disclosing this information is outweighed by the potential prejudice that would likely result for any future proceedings.