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From the Blog of McNabb and Associates, Attorneys

http://www.internationalextraditionblog.com/2006/01/extradition-from-britain-to-united.html

Extradition from Britain to the United States—Ian Norris



Ian Norris, the former CEO of Morgan Crucible, is preparing to begin his High Court appeal against his ordered extradition from Britain to the United States.[1] Mr. Norris is facing seven counts of fixing the price of industrial carbon products in the US between 1989 and 1998, as well as two charges of obstruction of justice.[2] His hearing begins on Thursday, and two days will be spent appealing against the original decision in June to extradite him, and the next two days will be spent appealing against Home Secretary Clarke’s decision in October to uphold the court’s decision.[3]

Mr. Norris’s case took on new importance when Sir Digby Jones excoriated the UK about the ease with which the United States can secure extradition: “This is totally unacceptable,” he said. “It might be acceptable for the bloke who wraps Semtex around his body but not for a 62-year-old executive with prostate cancer. The process of justice is being abused. America is being an ignorant bully.”[4]

One aspect that makes Mr. Norris’s extradition case so compelling is that Britain did not have a specific price-fixing statute until 2002,[5] which was well after the time period that Mr. Norris is accused of doing the alleged act. Under the dual-criminality component of the existing extradition treaty between the US and the UK, an offense is extraditable if it is a crime in both countries punishable by imprisonment for more than one year.[6] However, both the British district judge and the Home Office felt that the alleged conduct “equates to the offence of conspiracy to defraud,” which both countries have criminalized.[7]

British District Judge Nicholas Evans, when he made his decision to approve extradition said that it would not be “unjust or oppressive” to send Mr. Norris to the US, and said that “if convicted and sent to prison … all Mr. Norris’s medical needs will be met.”[8]

We last mentioned Mr. Norris a couple of weeks ago in connection with stepped-up efforts by the EU to target price-fixing.

From the Financial Times today
High Court upholds extradition

By Nikki Tait,Law Courts Correspondent

Published: January 26 2007 02:00 | Last updated: January 26 2007 02:00

Ian Norris, former chief executive of Morgan Crucible, the engineering group, yesterday lost his appeal against extradition to the US over alleged white collar crimes, which could have wide implications for the business community.
The 63-year-old businessman is the first foreign national to be sought byUS authorities on antitrust charges. His case is also the latest high-profile extradition sought by the US under controversial new fast-track arrangements between the UK and US.

Two High Court judges yesterday dismissed his lawyers' arguments that the price-fixing charges Mr Norris faces in the US did not amount to a criminal offence in the UK at the time and could not constitute an "extradition offence".

Instead, they found the common-law offence of conspiracy to defraud could en-compass cartel activity if an element of dishonesty were present. The judges acknowledged that no price-fixing case had been prosecuted as one of dishonesty in England and that it was not until the 2002 Enterprise Act that a statutory criminal cartel offence was introduced.

But they said: "Although previous competition law did not of itself criminalise cartel activity, it does not follow that it was not previously chargeable as conspiracy to defraud where circumstances might have justified and required it."

Mr Norris's lawyers will appeal to the House of Lords. "We continue to believe that the issues raised in this case need to be heard by theUK's highest court," said Alistair Graham, partner at White & Case.

"The question of whether price-fixing can be characterised as the old English common-law offence of conspiracy to defraud is an absolutely critical point of law, not only in this case and, therefore, for future potential extradition requests, but also for UK competition law and UK businesses in general," Mr Graham said.

"Any decision in this matter has significant ramifications for large numbers of UK businessmen and women, who will be potentially exposed to price-fixing charges in relation to the period prior to 2002."

Mr Norris is being sought by the US authorities for his alleged involvement, while at Morgan Crucible, in an international carbon products cartel, as well as on separate obstruction of justice counts. According to the charges, which he denies, the offences occurred be-tween 1989 and May 2000.
A furore erupted last year when three former NatWest bankers were sent to the US to face Enron-related fraud charges.

Yesterday, in an effort to defuse the controversy, Lord Goldsmith, attorney-general, unveiled a protocol for UK and US prosecutors dealing with cross-border cases. It focuses on early liaison and exchange of information.

"The fundamental issue is that British citizens can still be extradited to the US without prima facie evidence of an offence. The government has not addressed the concerns of business that this is unfair treatment," said Richard Lambert, director-general of the Confederation of British Industry."

I feel sorry for Mr Norris. Should I?