In June 2012, the permanent secretary for tax in HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), David Hartnett (DH), gave an interview to financial journalists from The Times. They had requested the meeting to discuss tax avoidance. The meeting was recorded and was agreed to be ‘off the record’.
DH imparted information to The Times regarding the tax activities of an individual (PK), the founder and chief executive officer of Ingenious Media Holdings plc and the company and its subsidiaries (‘Ingenious Media’, who had promoted film investment schemes involving film production partnerships devised by PK, which utilised tax relief then available), and HMRC’s attitude towards them, derived from information held by HMRC about them.
The appellants (Ingenious Media Holdings plc and PK) applied for judicial review (which in substance was a claim for breach of a duty of confidentiality). The claim was unsuccessful in the
