What you say to your lawyers is truly confidential; no-one, not even a regulator or prosecutor can see it. This is protected by the right to privacy under Article 8, and the right to a fair trial under Article 6 (which includes the right to access to lawyers).

Well, that is the general rule. The case of JSC BTA Bank v Ablyazov reminds us that there is an exception to this – when the relationship between client and lawyer is affected by "iniquity".

As we will see, Mukhtar Ablyazov fell foul of this exception, and papers which he sent to his various solicitors have been ordered to be produced. As we will also see, he appears to be a very bad boy indeed. It is, however, more difficult to draw the line between his sort of case and that in which a defendant says he has a defence, though in the end is disbelieved by the court.

And one interesting aspect of this judgement is Popplewell J's clear explanation of this difference – a fine line indeed.

So now to Ablyazov, and his badness.

Ablyazov was chairman of a Kazakstan bank between 2005 and 2009. In that time he and others appear to have helped themselves of to more than $6bn (