UK Treasury Reviewing Process for Granting Legal Fees Licenses to Sanctioned Parties
James Cartlidge, the U.K.'s exchequer secretary to the Treasury, told Parliament last week about how the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation makes its licensing decisions when sanctioned individuals or entities need to pay for legal fees. Cartlidge said that OFSI scrutinizes the reasonableness of the costs, including hourly rates and disbursements, adding that OFSI finds it inappropriate for the Treasury to decide whether a case should proceed by deciding whether to issue a license permitting legal fees to be paid.
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"As the UK is a country with checks and balances, it is right that the relevant court, rather than the Government, should decide the outcome of a case on the substantive merits," Cartlidge said. "However, I can confirm that in the light of recent cases, and related to this question, the Treasury is now considering whether this approach is the right one and whether changes can be made without the Treasury assuming unacceptable legal risk, while ensuring that we adhere to the rule of law."
He further said that the British sanctions lists do not exclude payments for any particular legal services from the licensing regime, giving rise to issues about access to justice. However, the Treasury is currently carrying out an internal review to find whether this approach is correct, Cartlidge said.