R (oao Ingenious Media Holdings PLC) v HMRC (and related application)

In R (oao Ingenious Media Holdings PLC) v HMRC (and related application) a senior HMRC official (H) held a meeting with two journalists in which H alleged that a company (IM) and its chief executive (PM) were promoting tax avoidance schemes. IM and PM were subsequently named in a national newspaper. They applied for judicial review contending that the disclosures which H had made were unlawful and were a breach of confidentiality. The QB dismissed their applications. Sales J held that ‘there was a rational connection between the function of HMRC to collect tax in an efficient and cost-effective way and the disclosures made by (H) in the course of the briefing and his decision to make the limited revelations that he did was based on a judgment which fell well within the lawful parameters’ of CRCA 2005...