Qatari Diar deleted emails that helped Candy's barracks case, court told

Solicitors acting for the Candy Brothers have accused Chelsea Barracks developer Qatari Diar of purposefully deleting emails which would have helped in the Brother’s ongoing legal fight over the £1bn development.

The parties have returned to court today after Lord Anthony Grabiner, Queen’s counsel acting for the Candy vehicle CPC Group, managed to win an extra day in court to discuss new evidence discovered after the end of the trial.

In a court submission dated June 8, Grabiner says the new information suggests QD had decided to withdraw the Chelsea Barracks planning application immediately after meeting the Prince of Wales.

CPC Group is suing QD for up to £81m for breach of contract after the application was withdrawn. QD says it withdrew the application after learning it was likely that London mayor Boris Johnson would oppose it.

Lord Grabiner said: “Several of the late documents are highly relevant and would have played a prominent part at trial. They would have been deployed in the crossexamination of all of QD’s witnesses.”

These documents, mostly emails between QD and its PR representatives, were found on a separate server previously un-searched by QD.

Grabiner concludes: “In the absence of any or any satisfactory explanation, which is the current state of play, we invite the Court to find that QD has deliberately destroyed documents relevant to the proceedings and to infer that such documents would have supported CPC’s case that the Planning Application was withdrawn on the instructions of the Emir.”

The extra court hearing is taking place today.