‘Nelson’s conviction caused losses’

THE Office of the Attorney General is resisting arguments by British King’s Counsel Vincent Nelson’s $96 million claim by arguing that he is effectively asking the Government to compensate him for the consequences of his own criminal conviction.

King’s Counsel Tom Poole yesterday submitted before a three-judge Court of Appeal panel that Nelson’s inability to practise law and the resulting loss of earnings were caused not by the Government’s disclosure of his notarised statement to the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA), but by his conviction and the professional consequences that followed.

Poole said this distinction was central to Nelson’s appeal against the dismissal of his civil claim arising from a 2017 indemnity agreement with the Government.