Supreme Court upholds World Bank's Immunity

The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that the World Bank cannot be compelled to produce internal documents from an investigation into foreign corruption that resulted in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police laying criminal charges in Canada.

Alan J. Lenczner and Scott Rollwagen of Lenczner Slaght acted as counsel to the World Bank, who successfully appealed the decision from the Superior Court of Justice directly to the Supreme Court of Canada.

The decision is expected to be of considerable interest to many large multinational organizations given the increased efforts by national governments in recent years to crack down on foreign corruption involving their nationals.