Extradition from Britain—NatWest Trio

Three British bankers who are at the center of one of the most contentious extradition battles the United Kingdom has witnessed are back in court today.^[1] The so-called “NatWest Trio” were indicted out of Houston on seven Enron-related counts of wire fraud in 2002, and the defendants—David Bermingham, Giles Darby, and Gary Mulgrew—deny the accusations, saying that the US wants the three men only to bolster its case against Enron.^[2]

Today’s extradition hearing is the “second prong” of the three men’s battle against their extradition to the US; in October 2004, a UK magistrate’s court approved their extradition, which was subsequently endorsed by Home Secretary Charles Clarke.^[3] Senior Principle Douglas McNabb testified as an expert witness at that hearing. This time around, the defendants have told the High Court that the magistrate judge “didn’t know that Greenwich NatWest has acknowledged it didn’t lose any money in the alleged fraud,” because the US government failed to disclose the information.^[4] This evidence, it is claimed, “fundamentally undermines” the case against them, since the “victim of the alleged crime does not claim to have been defrauded at all.”^[5]

Today’s hearing follows an earlier hearing this month, in which the three men asked the High Court to review whether British prosecutors “had abused their discretion by failing to investigate the men in Britain.”^[6]

Appeals to the High Court are governed by the Extradition Act of 2003, and the hearing is expected to last three days.^[7] A judgment on the appeal and the judicial review of whether discretion had been abused by British prosecutors is expected sometime soon after the hearing.^[8]

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[1] U.K Enron Bankers Say New Evidence Prevents Their Extradition, Bloomberg, Nov. 28, 2005, available here.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Id.
[7] Ex-NatWest Bankers Begin Appeal over Enron Case, Reuters, Nov. 28, 2005, available here.
[8] Id.