UK Bankers Lose Fight Against Extradition In Enron Case

by Robin Pilgrim, LawAndTax-News.com, London

22 February 2006

As the trial of Enron's founder, Kenneth Lay and former CEO, Jeffrey Skilling continues in Houston, it emerged this week that three former NatWest bankers implicated in a financial scandal following Enron's collapse have lost their battle to be tried in the United Kingdom.

The three men, David Bermingham, Gary Mulgrew and Giles Darby stand accused of conspiring with Enron's former CFO, Andrew Festow and former global financial chief, Michael Kopper to defraud NatWest's capital markets division by secretly investing in an 'off-balance sheet' Enron partnership.

The bankers have argued that as they are alleged to have defrauded a UK bank, with the misconduct taking place primarily in the United Kingdom, they should be tried there.

However, the UK's High Court on Tuesday denied both their appeal for a Serious Fraud Office review of the case, and their appeal against UK Home Secretary, Charles Clarke's decision to allow them to be extradited and tried in the United States on wire fraud charges.

The Financial Times quoted Lord Justice John Laws as explaining this week that:

"The United States dimension does not arise from the contingency that a telephone call or an e-mail happened to be received in that jurisdiction. It arises from the close and critical involvement of two senior Enron figures."

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