The UK Court of Appeal has ruled that Iran’s Bank Mellat must have access to documents and evidence based on which the UK government imposed sanctions on the lender, a report says. 

Bank Mellat’s attorneys have told Iran’s state news agency IRNA that the second most senior court in the English legal system has thrown out the British Treasury’s case to withhold alleged evidence against the Iranian institution.

In its Friday ruling, the Court of Appeal referred the case to the Administrative Court for further investigation, they said.

Bank Mellat is suing the British government for $4 billion in losses for prohibiting UK financial institutions from doing business with the Iranian lender.

The bank’s Managing Director Ali Rastgar welcomed the ruling, saying it will have “a very positive bearing on the evidence for $4 billion damage claim”.

“This is a very important decision in Bank Mellat’s pending cases against the UK Treasury,” he said on Sunday in a written message posted on the bank’s website.

The banker hoped that the ruling would help Bank Mellat “fully redeem its rights and reduce a little bit of many sufferings which it has endured as a result of cruel and unjust sanctions”.

In May, the UK High Court ruled that the $4 billion damages trial against the Treasury should proceed after it rejected the UK government’s attempt to delay the hearing.

The tribunal said damages should be recoverable for any loss and the bank should have the right to claim for damages as a consequence of the unlawful government interference.

The UK Supreme Court had already ruled that the Treasury did violate the bank’s rights under the European Convention on Human Rights and the UK’s human rights act.

By Press TV