Head of Mishcon de Reya's White Collar Crime & Investigations Group Alison Levitt QC featured on BBC Radio 4's Law in Action programme commenting on the recent private prosecution of Paul Sultana for a €100m investment fraud.
Speaking to Joshua Rozenberg, Alison said:
"The private prosecution looks identical to a public prosecution. In fact, the jury in this case did not know it was a private prosecution. The difference is that it's not brought by the Crown Prosecution Service or one of the other statutory agencies - it can be brought by an individual, a company or a charity.
"Once a case has started it runs in exactly the same way as any other criminal prosecution, including the fact that - at the end of it – the same punishments are available as they would be in a public prosecution, including imprisonment.
"I think we will see an increase in private prosecutions of this kind. It's a question of looking at how best the private and public sectors can work together. There are certain cases that lend themselves well to private prosecutions, freeing up the Crown Prosecution Service to concentrate on the things it does really well in the public interest."
Listen here from 22.00 minutes in for the full interview (clip expires 17 June 2018).
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