The British government's most senior law adviser on Saturday rejected calls to try three London bankers here instead of in the United States on fraud charges related to the collapsed firm Enron.
Attorney General Lord Peter Goldsmith said he could see "no reason" for Britain's Serious Fraud Office to reconsider its decision to leave the case of David Bermingham, Gary Mulgrew and Giles Darby to the US authorities.
The men - known as the "NatWest Three" - 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 are currently challenging the legality of their extradition to the United States under a fast-track treaty introduced after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
The treaty, ratified by London but not Washington, means the US authorities do not have to prove there is a case to answer for extradition to be granted. But prima facie evidence is still required to send US citizens to Britain.
Goldsmith said in a letter to Shadow Attorney General Dominic Grieve, who has taken up the men's case, that the allegedly fraudulent benefit received by the defendants came from funds paid by Enron, a US company.
"Where allegedly criminal conduct occurs in more than one country, as will often be the case with fraud, it inevitably happens that proceedings are commenced in one country rather than the other," he said. "In this case, investigations had begun in the USA and there had been no complaint by anyone in this country.
"When the Serious Fraud Office came to consider whether to investigate, it decided not to do so because the main evidence was in the USA (the co-conspirators); the conspiracy took place there; the alleged fraud could not have occurred without the complicity of the Enron executives; the American case was advanced and it was in the overall interests of justice for it to be dealt with by one court."
The men 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.
They have found support with some lawmakers, civil liberties campaigners and members of the British business community who fear the threat of extradition could prompt firms not to deal with the United States.
Enron, a high-flying US energy trading firm, collapsed in 2001 under billions of dollars of debt, in what was the biggest corporate bankruptcy in US history. Former Enron executives Kenneth Lay, 64, and Jeffrey Skilling, 52, were convicted of setting up an elaborate scheme to deceive investors about the company's crumbling finances. Lay died of a heart attack on Wednesday.
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