anti malfeasance is getting international

["Miklos A. Vasarhelyi" <miklosv@andromeda.rutgers.edu>]

May 25, 2005

British Official Backs Transfer of 3 Bankers to U.S. for Trial

By ALAN COWELL 

LONDON, May 24 - Charles Clarke, the home secretary of Britain, approved
a request from the United States government Tuesday to extradite three
former NatWest bankers on wire fraud charges linked to off-balance-sheet
dealings with the

Enron Corporation.

The British bankers are among the first to be affected by a British law
passed in 2003 intended to fight terrorism. The law, which came into
force in January 2004, permits the United States to seek extradition of
suspects without providing prima facie evidence of a crime. The United
States is also using the same law to seek the extradition of Ian Norris,
the former chief executive of Morgan Crucible, to face charges of price
fixing and obstruction of justice. 

A judge ruled last October that the men - David Bermingham, Giles Darby
and Gary Mulgrew - could be sent to stand trial in the United States, but
the bankers appealed to the home secretary, who has discretion to rule on
extradition requests.

Their spokeswoman, Melanie Riley, said that they were "devastated,
but not surprised," and that they would appeal the decision.

They have already won permission to seek a judicial review to press their
case that they should be tried in Britain, where they have not been
accused of a crime. The men worked for Greenwich NatWest, now part of the
Royal Bank of Scotland.

They have been charged in the United States with seven counts of wire
fraud. The complaint accuses them of conspiring with Enron executives to
defraud their employer of $7.3 million. They have denied
wrongdoing.

The case dates to 2002 when prosecutors in Houston accused them of
conspiring with Andrew S. Fastow, the former chief financial officer of
Enron, and his aide, Michael Kopper, to persuade Greenwich NatWest to
sell a stake in an Enron partnership for $1 million. The real value of
the deal was much higher, the prosecutors said, enabling the three men to
profit from the difference.

Mr. Bermingham, one of the three bankers, accused the government of
putting political expediency ahead of the protection of its own
citizens.

Miklos A. Vasarhelyi
KPMG Professor of AIS
Director RARC / CARLAB
Rutgers University
315 Ackerson Hall
180 University Avenue
Newark, NJ 07102
(973) 353 5002
(201) 454 4377 (cell)
http://raw.rutgers.edu/mik los