Saira Choonka > Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP > London, England > Lawyer Profile
Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP Offices
1 WOOD STREET
CHEAPSIDE
LONDON
EC2V 7WS
England
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Saira Choonka
Work Department
Saira Choonka is a leading principal associate in FSDI specialising in running complex, large scale corporate and financial crime investigations and advising on consequential criminal and regulatory exposure. She represents a range of multinationals and financial institutions in these areas and has established key relationships with these clients, leading to significant repeat instructions. Her recent experience includes:
[CONFIDENTIAL - Conducting an internal investigation into corruption issues for a client operating in the aviation sector, which led to a self-report to the SFO and NCA. Negotiations are now underway for a Deferred Prosecution Agreement- END CONFIDENTIAL]
Acting as lead associate for the Serious Fraud Office in its action against ENRC in the High Court for the disclosure of material over which our client alleged Legal Professional Privilege had been incorrectly claimed, and the subsequent appeal of the High Court decision in that matter
o [High Court] Director of the Serious Fraud Office v Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation Ltd [2017] EWHC 1017 (QB)
o [Court of Appeal] Director of the Serious Fraud Office v Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation Ltd [2018] EWCA Civ 2006
This case won “Most Important Court Case of the Year” at the 2018 GIR awards.
[CONFIDENTIAL Saira currently acts as key advisor to established private wealth management company and is currently leading two regulatory investigations involving significant financial crime and risk management issues, likely to drastically change the operations of the organisation and impact the financial market. She works closely with this client advising on all aspects, INCLUDING ON financial crime remediation work, in particular relating to AML and ABC issues and supporting its internal stakeholders in these areas.
Acting as part of a defence counsel team, Saira is leading a team representing a bank subject to one of the FCA’s first single criminal track investigation for money laundering breaches. She has been critical in advising on the balance between the client’s regulatory obligations and its privilege against self-incrimination and mitigating its criminal and regulatory exposure.CONFIDENTIAL]
Saira’s experience has led to her regularly delivering training in the areas of AML, ABC and fraud to a number of key clients of the firm focusing on front office, senior management, Legal and Compliance and Board levels.
Position
Principal Associate
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Public sector > Education: institutions
- Employment > Health and safety
- Public sector > Infrastructure (parliamentary)
- Investment fund formation and management > Real estate funds
- Corporate and commercial > M&A: Lower Mid-Market Deals, £100m-£750m
- Employment > Pensions (non-contentious)
- Employment > Pensions: dispute resolution
- Real estate > Property litigation
- Transport > Rail
- Investment fund formation and management > Retail funds
- Corporate and commercial > Financial services: non-contentious/regulatory
Firm Rankings
- Public sector > Administrative and public law
- Corporate and commercial > Commercial contracts
- Real estate > Commercial property: corporate occupiers
- Real estate > Commercial property: investment
- Risk advisory > Data protection, privacy and cybersecurity
- Public sector > Education: schools
- Employment > Employers
- Corporate and commercial > Equity capital markets – small-mid cap
- Investment fund formation and management > Hedge funds
- Insurance > Insurance: corporate and regulatory
- Corporate and commercial > International business reorganisations
- Public sector > Local government
- Corporate and commercial > Private equity: transactions - mid-market deals (up to £250m)
- Insurance > Product liability: defendant
- Industry focus > Retail and consumer
- Corporate and commercial > VAT and indirect tax
- Dispute resolution > Banking litigation: investment and retail
- Dispute resolution > Commercial litigation: mid-market
- Dispute resolution > Commercial litigation: premium
- Real estate > Commercial property: development
- Real estate > Construction: contentious
- Employment > Employee share schemes
- Corporate and commercial > EU and competition: trade, WTO anti-dumping and customs
- Corporate and commercial > Financial services: contentious
- TMT (technology, media and telecoms) > Fintech
- Insurance > Insurance and reinsurance litigation
- Dispute resolution > International arbitration
- TMT (technology, media and telecoms) > IT and telecoms
- Investment fund formation and management > Listed funds
- Real estate > Planning
- Insurance > Professional negligence
- Real estate > Property finance
- Dispute resolution > Public international law
- Dispute resolution > Tax litigation and investigations
- Real estate > Construction: non-contentious
- Corporate and commercial > Corporate tax
- Finance > Derivatives and structured products
- Corporate and commercial > EU and competition
- Crime, fraud and licensing > Fraud: civil
- TMT (technology, media and telecoms) > Intellectual property: trade marks, copyright and design
- Projects, energy and natural resources > Power (including electricity, nuclear and renewables)
- Investment fund formation and management > Real estate funds
- Risk advisory > Regulatory investigations and corporate crime (advice to corporates)
- Industry focus > TMT
- Private client > Charities and not-for-profit
- Employment > Immigration
- Finance > Acquisition finance
- Finance > Corporate restructuring & insolvency
- Corporate and commercial > Financial services: non-contentious/regulatory
- Corporate and commercial > Venture capital