FAI to claim privilege over two more documents in ODCE investigation
The FAI has said it will be claiming privilege over two more documents which form part of the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) investigation into the Association.
In a statement, the FAI said: "The ODCE has made a High Court application in relation to privilege on two of 10,048 documents presented to the ODCE by the FAI last week as per statutory requirements".
They say the decision to claim privilege was made after receiving external legal advice.
Last June, a High Court judge ruled that extracts of documents the FAI had previously given to the ODCE were covered by professional legal privilege and couldn't be used as part of their probe.
The contents of some 14 passages contained in a total of 16 documents provided by the FAI and its auditors Deloitte contained the legally privileged material, the judge ruled.
Certain contents of two other documents did not attract legal privilege, the judge added.
The judge ordered that the passages where legal privilege did apply were to be redacted to ensure they remain unseen by the ODCE as part of its investigation.
Today's statement from the FAI read: "The Football Association of Ireland is to claim privilege over two documents which form part of a statutory production made by the FAI to the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement.
"The ODCE has made a High Court application in relation to privilege on two of 10,048 documents presented to the ODCE by the FAI last week as per statutory requirements.
"The request for privilege on these two documents was made on the back of external legal advice to the FAI.
"To date, the FAI has produced tens of thousands of documents to the ODCE, including 40,000 in a production three weeks ago. Privilege was not sought over any of those 40,000 documents.
"A previous privilege request regarding 14 passages, contained in a total of 16 documents, was upheld by the High Court earlier this year.
"To date, the FAI has sought privilege on 16 documents in total from the tens of thousands submitted to the ODCE. The FAI continues to co-operate fully with the ongoing ODCE investigation."
