• The first hearing for the three Pakistan cricketers and their agent took place this morning at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court. All four were released on bail and will appear at Southwark Crown Court for a plea and case management hearing on 20 May.
• In a report about Anne Darwin, the Daily Mail has said that “…thanks to a legal blunder by UK officials many now fear that she may return to Panama to collect the ill-gotten gains and pick up where she left off.”
This is incorrect. Darwin’s bank account in Panama (containing £143,952) has been frozen, her property in Panama is being sold and she has surrendered her passport to the police. The passport will not be returned until the confiscation proceedings are completed.
• The sentencing of former MP Jim Devine, convicted of two counts of theft by false accounting last month, has been set for 31 March.
