22 SAUNDERS v. UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT compulsory powers by the Serious Fraud Office cannot, as a general rule, be adduced in evidence at the subsequent trial of the person concerned. Moreover the fact that statements were made by the applicant prior to his being charged does not prevent their later use in criminal proceedings from constituting an infringement of the right. 75. It follows from the above analysis and from the fact that section 434 (5) of the Companies Act 1985 authorises, as noted by both the trial judge and the Court of Appeal, the subsequent use in criminal proceedings of statements obtained by the inspectors that the various procedural safeguards to which reference has been made by the respondent Government (see paragraph 63 above) cannot provide a defence in the present case since they did not operate to prevent the use of the statements in the subsequent criminal proceedings. 76. Accordingly, there has been an infringement in the present case of the right not to incriminate oneself. B. Alleged misuse of powers by the prosecuting authorities 77. The applicant also complained that the prosecuting authorities had deliberately delayed the institution of the police investigation to enable the inspectors to gather evidence under their special powers. He referred to the meeting on 30 January 1987 between the inspectors and representatives of the Crown Prosecution Service (see paragraph 23 above), which preceded the formal initiation of the police investigation by some three months (see paragraph 26 above). In addition, documents disclosed for the purposes of the most recent appeal (see paragraphs 39-44 above) showed that, in the words of the Court of Appeal, "all concerned were conscious that the inspectors had greater powers than the police when conducting their interviews and it was clearly hoped that the inspectors would elicit answers ... which could be used in evidence at trial". He reasoned that the fact that the Court of Appeal had found that there had been no abuse of process should not be decisive, since the domestic court could not apply the Convention and had been bound by English law to conclude that the use made at trial of the transcripts of the interviews with the inspectors had not been unfair. 78. The Government emphasised that the applicant had already argued this issue before the Court of Appeal without success (see paragraph 43 above) and that in raising it again in Strasbourg he was attempting to use the Court as a fourth instance, contrary to the established jurisprudence of the Court. 79. The Commission found it unnecessary to consider this head of complaint in view of its finding that the applicant had been denied a fair trial by reason of the use made of the transcripts during his trial.