Efforts by three former British bankers to halt their extradition on human rights grounds to the US to face Enron-related fraud charges failed yesterday.
At a London court, district judge Mr Nicholas Evans told the men - Mr David Bermingham, Mr Gary Mulgrew and Mr Giles Darby - that there was "a very real basis, on the facts as alleged, for the case to be tried in Houston".
The judge said that while he accepted that the men could have been prosecuted in the UK, there was no obligation to do so. There was, however, a "good and proper basis for prosecuting them in the US".
Having the three Britons tried in Texas would mark another victory for the Enron Task Force, which has spearheaded the US government's attempts to crack down on corporate corruption in the wake of the 2001 collapse of the energy group.
The extradition order comes under new British legislation, in force since January, which was designed to speed up the extradition of suspected terrorists.
The demise of Enron has so far seen US government prosecutors press charges against 33 individuals, of whom 15 have entered guilty pleas.
The three Britons, who worked for Greenwich NatWest, the capital markets division of Royal Bank of Scotland, now face the prospect of trial in Houston, home town of the collapsed energy group, on seven counts of "wire fraud".
They have not been charged with any offence in the UK but US prosecutors accuse them of defrauding their employer by investing secretly in an off-balance sheet Enron partnership.
The US case against them is based on information they gave to Britain's financial watchdog, the Financial Services Authority.
The central allegation is that they worked with Mr Andrew Fastow, then Enron's chief financial officer, and Mr Michael Kopper, his right-hand man, to convince Greenwich NatWest to sell its stake in the partnership for just $1 billion, when the true value was much higher.
Prosecutors claim the investment bankers pocketed about $7.3 million in profits, with the rest going to Mr Kopper, Mr Fastow and other Enron executives.
If extradited, the three Britons have argued they could face bankruptcy and up to 35 years in prison if found guilty.
The extradition case now passes to Britain's Home Secretary Mr David Blunkett. The men can also appeal to the High Court, a step which their lawyers said would be pursued. The have asked for the case to be heard in Britain. - (Financial Times Service)
