Bloody Sunday inquiry costs crisis

[seemslikeadream]

Clare Dyer, legal correspondent
Monday March 29, 2004
The Guardian

The Bloody Sunday inquiry has been rocked by an unexpected development which could add millions to its already huge costs and delay the report significantly beyond its expected delivery date next spring.
Although the official projected cost is £155m, one QC involved in the inquiry estimates that its cost could now reach £250m by the time it reports.

An appeal court ruling this month in an unrelated lawsuit against the Bank of England over the collapse of the rogue bank BCCI could open the previously confidential files of the lawyers advising the soldiers, the families of those who died on Bloody Sunday, and other parties to the inquiry.

Lord Saville, the inquiry chairman, last week sent the legal teams a copy of the judgment and asked them to consider whether it has a bearing on any communications they have had with their clients that need to be handed over to him. Were the BCCI ruling applied to the Bloody Sunday inquiry, it would substantially reduce privilege between the lawyers and their clients, and thus force them to disclose material that has previously been withheld.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1180089,00.html