Reprinted from Caribbean Net News
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'NatWest Three' facing extradition from Britain in Cayman Islands fraud case
07-06-2006

LONDON, England (AFP): The British government rejected pleas Wednesday to block the extradition to the United States of three former NatWest bankers on Enron-related fraud charges involving the sale of a Cayman Islands company.

Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Home Office indicated that the extradition for trial of David Bermingham, Gary Mulgrew and Giles Darby -- the so-called "NatWest Three" -- would go ahead.

Blair told parliament that he understood the trio's concerns and had asked officials to see whether there was any "support or assurance" they could be given over the possibility of them being bailed.

Menzies Campbell, the leader of the smaller opposition Liberal Democrats, had asked Blair "what could be more unfair" than the extradition of the three bankers without evidence under a treaty which had not been ratified by the United States.

The fast-track extradition treaty, introduced after the September 2001 terrorist attacks, has been ratified by London but not by Washington, prompting strong criticisms from human rights campaigners and some British lawmakers.

The NatWest Three's case centered on a challenge to the legal status of the treaty -- but efforts to block their extradition have already failed in Britain's High Court, Britain's court of last instance the House of Lords and the European Court of Human Rights.

They are accused of taking part in a 19-million-dollar fraud over the alleged sale of a Cayman Islands company for less than it was worth. They deny any criminal conduct.

They maintain that, if there is a case against them, it should be tried in England because that is where, at least in part, the alleged offences occurred.

Leading British businessmen and politicians on Wednesday urged Home Secretary John Reid to stop their extradition.

In an open letter to The Daily Telegraph newspaper, they called on him to do so "not to save the NatWest Three, but to correct the mistake of a previous home secretary and preserve Britain's ancient tradition of transparent justice".

But a Home Office spokesman said: "It is not for the home secretary to consider whether it is more appropriate for prosecution for offences to take place in the UK when ordering an individual's extradition request.

"This is a matter for the UK's independent prosecuting authorities. A domestic prosecution will always take precedence over an extradition request."

Enron, a high-flying US energy trading firm, collapsed in 2001 under billions of dollars of debt, in what was at the time the biggest corporate bankruptcy in US history.

Former Enron executives Kenneth Lay, 64, and Jeffrey Skilling, 52, have been convicted of setting up an elaborate scheme to deceive investors over Enron's crumbling finances. They were due to be sentenced in October.

Lay died Wednesday of a heart attack, US media said.