A second misconduct investigation has been launched into the British chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Karim Khan KC, who is pursuing a war crimes case against Israel and is already under investigation over sexual misconduct claims, is now facing a separate probe into allegations he had inappropriate discussions with a judge in an earlier war crimes case.
The MoS understands that at least five officials at the International Criminal Court (ICC) have been interviewed over the last two months by court investigators in The Hague.
Sources have said the investigation is examining claims that Mr Khan held secretive meetings with a judge about a case he was prosecuting before he unexpectedly withdrew the war crimes charges against the defendant. Last night Mr Khan strenuously denied these claims.
It comes after this newspaper revealed last year that a female colleague had accused Mr Khan of sexual misconduct, which he also denies.
The 55-year-old prosecutor controversially sought the arrests of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant in May 2024 – just two weeks after the woman made allegations against him.
An external investigation by a UN watchdog was launched six months later and is understood to be examining multiple allegations of sexual assault, including that Mr Khan performed non-consensual sex acts with her over an 11-month period during official trips to New York, Colombia, Chad and Paris.
Last month it emerged that a second woman had come forward to investigators accusing Mr Khan of sexual misconduct.
A second misconduct investigation has been launched into British chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan (pictured)
The 55-year-old prosecutor controversially sought the arrests of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu (pictured) and former defence minister Yoav Gallant in May 2024
She told The Guardian that he subjected her to a ‘constant onslaught’ of sexual advances and repeatedly sought to pressure her into sexual activity.
Mr Khan, through his lawyers, has said it was ‘categorically untrue that he has engaged in sexual misconduct of any kind’.
Now sources have told this newspaper that a second misconduct investigation into the barrister is underway and is being run by the court’s investigatory body, the Independent Oversight Mechanism (IOM).
It centres on Mr Khan’s alleged misconduct in the war crimes case brought in against Maxime Mokom, a former militia leader in the Central African Republic.
It is claimed that Mr Khan held talks about the evidence with one of the judges on the case, Rosario Aitala, and went to his office several times to have prohibited discussions.
It is alleged that this was done without the knowledge of the other judges and that it led to Mr Khan’s surprise decision to withdraw the raft of war crimes and crimes against humanity charges against Mokom in October 2023.
Lawyers for Mr Khan said that any suggestion that the prosecutor had unauthorised discussions with the judge was ‘baseless’ and that any allegation that the decision to withdraw the charges was based on these discussions was false.
Last night a source close to the investigation said: ‘Khan withdrew the charges against Mokom after having several discussions with the judge.
Karim Khan KC, who is pursuing a war crimes case against Israel and is already under investigation over sexual misconduct claims, is now facing a separate probe into allegations he had inappropriate discussions with a judge in an earlier war crimes case
These discussions were not allowed and the other judges didn’t know they were happening.
‘Following these discussions, Khan withdrew the Mokom charges despite this being against the advice of many lawyers around him. The impact of that decision remains an issue for the court.’
Another source at the court said: ‘The IOM has spoken to a lot of people on this, and I think it’s more of a challenge to the court than even the sexual misconduct allegations, because it’s much broader and goes to the integrity of cases at the court.’
In 2018 the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Mokom, a former National Coordinator of Operations for the Anti-Balaka militia, over charges including murder, rape, extermination, deportation, torture, persecution, enforced disappearance and other inhumane acts.
After he was surrendered by Chad and brought to The Hague in March 2022, his charges were confirmed in January 2023 before being withdrawn by Mr Khan in October 2023.
At the time, Mr Khan cited a lack of evidence and admitted it would be ‘unwelcome to many survivors and their families’.
Asked to comment on the new investigation, a spokesman for the court said: ‘The Court cannot comment on an external independent investigation that has been decided by the Assembly [of State Parties] and this matter is under the authority of the Assembly.’
The court’s current investigation into Mr Khan’s alleged misconduct in the case came as the barrister has faced mounting scrutiny on another case.
The ICC’s Appeals Chamber last month ordered him to step aside from the ongoing Venezuela investigation due to a conflict of interest. This is because a member of the legal team representing Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, is Mr Khan’s sister-in-law.
Last night Mr Khan, through his lawyers, denied any wrongdoing and added that attempts have been made ‘by various parties wrongly to discredit him and destroy his personal reputation through the media, as a direct consequence of his role in the issuing of the arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, and in an attempt to interfere with those legal due processes’.
