A former City partner has had tax offence charges levied against him dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) after the prosecutor admitted to ‘wholesale failures’.

Charges against Matthew Cahill, formerly with US firm Sidley Austin, were dismissed in December last year, court papers show.

The charges followed Cahill’s investment in schemes, arranged and promoted by Zeus Partners, which in 2015 were alleged by HM Revenue and Customs to be fraudulent.

However, the CPS, after having appointed new counsel to lead on the case, admitted to bringing charges before it had completed its investigation.

The CPS, which dropped the charges against Zeus in July last year, submitted a written statement of position to Birmingham Crown Court in December, in which it admitted to ‘wholesale failures’ in its ability to apply the Criminal Procedures and Investigations Act and a fundamental failure of the disclosure process. 

David Corker, of criminal defence firm Corker Binning, which represented Cahill, said: ‘The admission of the CPS that they brought charges before the investigation was complete was contrary to the rule of law and led to unnecessary suffering and personal losses for Matthew and his family.’

The CPS said it has commissioned an internal investigation into the issues raised in the case.