The Serious Fraud Office has agreed to pay Robert Tchenguiz £1.5m, following the collapse of an investigation against him two years ago.
The SFO has settled the remaining civil damages claims brought by Tchenguiz, R20 Limited and his trustee, Rawlinson & Hunter Trustees, arising from his arrest and the searches of his home and office in March 2011.
It will pay £1.5m in full and final settlement, with costs to be determined by the court if they cannot be agreed.
The settlement for damages and costs relates to an investigation into the troubled Icelandic bank Kaupthing, which went under during the 2008 banking crisis.
The agreement comes after a controversial case bought by the SFO was quashed in 2012.
On 31 July 2012, following a judicial review, the high court quashed the search warrants and was highly critical of the SFO’s conduct. In November 2012 it was required to pay Tchenguiz and his business entities’ costs for those public law proceedings on the indemnity basis.
Last week Tchenguiz’s brother Vincent reached an out-of-court settlement with the SFO . He will receive £3m and an additional £3m contribution towards his legal costs.
SFO director David Green said: “I am pleased that we have been able to resolve this final outstanding matter, without the need for a costly trial. As I said when Vincent Tchenguiz accepted our offer last week, the SFO deeply regrets the errors for which we were criticised by the high court in July 2012. On behalf of the SFO, I also apologise to Robert Tchenguiz for what happened to him.”
The settlement means that the civil damages actions against the SFO are concluded and the trial scheduled for October 2014 will no longer take place.
Green added: “I reiterate that the SFO has changed a great deal since March 2011, and I am determined that the mistakes made over three years ago will not be repeated.”
