The NatWest Three case lacks common sense, proportion — and a victim

A head of steam is building up behind the campaign to halt the imminent extradition to the US of the NatWest Three, the trio who face trial (and two years in a tough Texas jail before trial) for an alleged $6 million ‘wire fraud’ against NatWest in connection with the sale of a joint venture between the bank and Enron. Attention has focused on the unequal extradition terms to which the Blair government agreed in its eagerness to be America’s best friend in the War on Terror, allowing US prosecutors to summon British suspects for trial without first having to present evidence against them. But what is really offensive is not the fact that we do not have equal powers to extradite Americans, but that the whole case for throwing the book at Messrs Bermingham, Darby and Mulgrew (who could face Texan sentences ten times longer than the same offence would attract here) is so lacking in common sense and proportion.