The Home Secretary of Britain has upheld the decision made by a judge last October regarding the extradition of three former Natwest Bankers to the US to face charges of financial fraud linked to the Enron case.
David Bermingham, Gary Mulgrew and Giles Darby might be extradited to stand trial in a Texas court for hobnobbing with former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow and his aide Michael Kopper and selling an investment company owned by Natwest to Enron for a whopping £11 million when the actual value of the company was less than a million pounds. The three bankers are suspected to have made £1.3 million each while the Enron officials made £6.7 million. The three face imprisonment upto 35 years in the US if convicted.
This ruling by Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, has opened the floodgates of opinion on the 2003 Extradition Act of the UK that gives powers to the US to seek extradition of any UK citizen without providing prima facie evidence of crime. This Act was designed primarily for the easy extradition of suspects for terrorism activities, but most extraditions sought by the Us under this Act since have been for white collar crimes.
While the Home Secretary opined that he could not find any reason for preventing him from ordering the extradition of the Bankers, people in general feel that this is wrong as they are UK citizens and the crime was committed in the UK itself.
The bankers have won the right to appeal against the judgment in the High Court, which they plan to do as per their lawyer, Mark Spragg.
David Bermingham, one of the three accused has charged the government of ‘putting political expediency ahead of the protection of its own citizens.’
Posted
on : Thu, 26 May 2005 15:05 GMT | Business News
By : Paula Jenkins
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