The government could face a legal bill topping £1 billion in compensation to victims of the Afghan data breach scandal.
Thousands of people’s lives were put at risk of Taliban reprisals when their names were accidentally leaked in 2022.
The massive blunder led to the previous Conservative government obtaining a High Court super-injunction, banning any reporting of the leak until it was finally lifted this week.
Lawyers are now preparing to sue the Ministry of Defence over the data breach, which put victims and their families in danger.
Top Manchester law firm Barings Law is representing nearly 900 victims.
“Those who had worked with the British armed forces in Afghanistan required anonymity, for fear of reprisals from the Taliban. But they have been put at risk by failings at the Ministry of Defence”, the firm said, in a statement.
“Barings Law has led the fight to have the reporting ban lifted, and for those affected, as well as their families, to be informed as a matter of urgency.
“Our efforts have finally proved fruitful, as the ban has been lifted and we have already taken instruction by nearly a thousand people affected by the breach.”
The scandal began in February 2022, when a UK Special Forces soldier accidentally sent out a spreadsheet containing details of 18,714 Afghans to a series of contacts.
The people involved had assisted the UK government in the fight against the Taliban, and were seeking resettlement under the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (ARAP) scheme.
The leak was only discovered in August 2023, when some of the details were posted on Facebook.
The government responded by seeking a High Court super-injunction to prevent any reporting of the leak, as well as any public disclosure of the existence of a court order.
The order was lifted by a judge this week, sparking a furious political row over who was responsible for the leak, which senior politicians knew about it, and why it was kept secret for so long.
Baring Law said some victims of the leak remain in hiding, and there are fears that others have been killed already.
Former Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has defended the Tory handling of the incident, while his Labour successor John Healey has insisted everyone coming to the UK has undergone background checks.
An MoD spokesman told The Sun that the £1billion compensation bill was “pure speculation”.
“The Government inherited a deeply complex situation and since taking office, have taken appropriate action in line with the level of risk these individuals faced”, he said.
“We will do everything possible to defend against any compensation claims and any we do get, we will fight them hard.”
