Justice Brown has ‘struck out’ ALL the key allegations that Adani has made against Ben Pennings in the Supreme Court. Her Honour described parts of the pleading as confused, deficient and embarrassing. The allegations struck out include:

That Ben and others conspired to cause Adani economic harm

That Ben and others conspired to undertake unlawful acts against Adani

That Adani suffered millions in damage because of the Galilee Blockade’s “intimidation”

Inducing Adani’s contractors and employees to breach their contracts with Adani

The strike out comes after Adani had already dropped claims that Ben obtained their confidential information during the course of the Galilee Blockade campaign.

Adani had been taking steps in the middle of the proceedings to require Ben to pay millions of dollars of legal costs. The judge described several features of Adani’s costs claim as “very concerning” and noted that the amount of costs claimed by Adani was “startling”. The judge agreed with Ben’s arguments that Adani should not be able to take any further steps in relation to these costs until the proceedings have ended or until a further order is made.

Adani has 28 days to appeal or until mid February to decide whether it wants to try and reformulate its case against Ben. This comes after the US Government issued an arrest warrant for Gautam Adani, alleging multi-billion dollar bribery and fraud.

Ben Pennings said:

“My family and I are beyond ecstatic that the Supreme Court has thrown out all of Adani’s key allegations against me. It’s such a relief that the millions in legal costs that Adani were pursuing against me and my family have been stayed.

Adani has 28 days to appeal but after more than four years I hope and pray they see sense rather than continue to pursue me with harrowing Supreme litigation.

In an ironic twist of fate, the US Government now has an arrest warrant out for centi-billionaire Gautam Adani, alleging multi-billion dollar bribery and fraud. Adani’s environmental approvals and status as a ‘suitable operator’ deserve fresh scrutiny in light of these most recent allegations.”

Report by the Human Rights Law Centre released yesterday Stop the SLAPP | Human Rights Law Centre

Recent UN Report Stop the SLAPP | Human Rights Law Centre