First extradition at price fixing

Ian Norris, the former chief executive of" Morgan Cruci­ble who is facing allegations of price-fixing in the US, should be extradited for trial, Charles Clarke, home secretary, said yesterday.

Lawyers for Mr Norris, 62, who retired from the British engineering company two years ago due to ill-health, said they were disappointed by the decision but would be lodging an appeal at the High Court in London.

"We have faith in the UK judicial system and will take this case to the House of Lords if necessary," said Alistair Graham, partner at White & Case. "This is a matter of huge public inter­est and we will continue to use every means at our dis­posal to have the current flawed and unfair extradi­tion arrangements between the UK and the US reviewed and amended."

The Home Office said in a statement that "the extradi­tion of individuals for alleged white-collar crimes pursuant to valid extradition requests is an important part of upholding the rule of law in the international economy". It added that it was up to a district judge, not the home secretary, to determine whether alleged offences amounted to extra-

dition offences - a decision reached in Mr Norris's case by District Judge Nicholas Evans at Bow Street magis­trates' court earlier this year.

That issue, however, is likely to form a key part of Mr Norris's appeal and will be closely watched by the business community because of its wider implications. This is the first time US anti­trust regulators have tried to extradite an individual to face price-fixing charges in the US. However, the alleged offences took place before the 2002 Enterprise Act, which made price-fixing a statutory criminal offence in the UK, came into force.

The US authorities argue that the charges equate to "conspiracy to defraud", for which extradition is possi­ble, and yesterday the Home Office said that its under­standing was similar.

Lawyers for Mr Norris have claimed there is no known case in the UK in which it has been alleged that a bare agreement to fix prices constituted, or could constitute, a conspiracy to defraud. "Only if a deception was involved would the rele­vant offence be conspiracy to defraud," they argued.

Separately, Mr Norris is mounting a judicial review challenge to the current, controversial UK-US extradi­tion rules. In particular, the

home secretary's refusal to remove the US from the list of countries allowed to have a "fast-track" extradition system with the UK. Critics argue that there is lack of reciprocity and question whether human rights of British citizens are being sufficiently protected. This is likely to be heard later this year. The appeal against yesterday's decision will probably be scheduled for early next year.