It is not often that the governments of six European countries and the US hail a decision of the Chancery Division as “historic”. But such was the reaction to the judgment that Mr Justice Peter Smith handed down this May in Attorney General of Zambia v Meer Care & Desai.
The cause of the jubilation is not hard to fathom. The judge ruled that a number of defendants, including the former president of Zambia, Dr FTJ Chiluba, had conspired to misappropriate tens of millions of dollars from the Republic of Zambia. For Western governments, some of which reportedly bankrolled the proceedings, the decision was a welcome boost in the fight against political corruption in Africa.
