Jamie Sharma led by John McGuinness QC succeeds in the Court of Appeal, as it upholds the fraud and money-laundering convictions of the ex-CEO of the FTSE250 oil and gas corporation, Afren PLC.

The Court of Appeal described the conduct as “extremely sophisticated … reprehensibly corrupt and dishonest”. It also upheld a sentence of six years’ imprisonment.

Osman Shahenshah was found to have abused his position by arranging the receipt and distribution of side payments during the negotiation of oil contracts worth $300m. Following a two-month trial at Southwark Crown Court, the jury unanimously found Shahenshah and his co-defendant, Shahid Ullah, guilty of failing to disclose transactions to the Afren Board and laundering the proceeds of crime through offshore companies for the benefit of a select ‘A-Team’. Jamie was instructed in 2015 at the commencement of the SFO’s investigation and on appeal. He is a specialist lawyer in global investigations, financial crime and regulation, tax, civil fraud and public law.

[PRESS REPORTS [Global Investigations]]