Chris Ronnie’s legal team seek to have trial ditched
THE legal team representing former JJB Sports boss Chris Ronnie in his fraud trial is considering an appeal after a bid to have the case dropped failed.
Mr Ronnie from Wilmslow is being represented by Manchester law firm Pannone.
His trial at Southward Crown Court, London, was due to start last month, but was delayed as his legal team sought to persuade the judge that the case brought by the Serious Fraud Office was flawed.
In a preparatory hearing, Mr Ronnie’s defence team had challenged the lawfulness of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) decision to accept the case for investigation in 2009.
The issues surrounded whether or not the former SFO chief executive Phillippa Williamson, a non-lawyer, was legally entitled to take the decision to formally accept cases.
However the judge ruled that the director’s delegation to Ms Williamson was not unlawful.
Mr Ronnie’s solicitor Anthony Barnfather, said: “We are now considering whether we launch an appeal to the Court of Appeal. We have two days in which to indicate our position and in that time we will consider the full text of the ruling carefully.
“The judge has found that the director’s delegation to Williamson was not unlawful. However, it is clear that the SFO was certainly not operating best practice. No one seemed to know the procedure, records were not clear and notes could not be found. Given the other well documented failings the public has a right to expect better. It showed an unsatisfactory lack of corporate governance.”
Mr Ronnie and a former JJB supplier, David Ball, deny charges in relation to an alleged £1m fraud relating to contracts entered into by JJB Sports in 2008.
