Russell Fortt and Zander Goss instructed by the City of London Corporation as intervenor in the Court of Appeal in R v Moore & White

Russell Fortt and Zander Goss were instructed by the City of London Corporation as intervenor in the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) in R v Moore & White.

The appeal concerned the lawfulness of a funding arrangement between the Association of British Insurers and the Corporation in its capacity as police authority for the City of London Police. The agreement was made pursuant to s.93 of the Police Act 1996 and included the provision of funding by the ABI for a police unit dedicated to the investigation of insurance fraud (the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department).

The appellants argued that this arrangement was ultra vires s.93 because it did not constitute a ‘gift’ within the meaning of that section  and was an abuse of process in line with other authorities on the private funding of police investigations (R v Hounsham and R v Zinga). 

The appeal was dismissed. The court felt it unnecessary to rule on the vires of the funding arrangement but found no abuse of process. The Lord Chief Justice nonetheless remarked obiter that there was ‘considerable force’ that the meaning of the word gift in s.93 encompassed arrangements of this type and set out features of the funding arrangement which in the court’s view did not offend the court’s sense of propriety.