British lawmakers are to hold an emergency debate on its extradition laws vis-a-vis the United States as three bankers are being sent to the latter to face trial there over an alleged fraud. The bankers have lost all court battles to face trial in their home country. The case against them relates to the collapse of the energy giant Enron in which they claim innocence.



While the government has already been defeated in the House of Lords with the peers calling for a suspension of the extraditions till the Americans ratify their side of the accord, the House of Commons debate will mount pressure on the ruling party to make changes in it. The Opposition and critics call the treaty lopsided and unfair because British citizens can be extradited to the United States without proof of case against them while there is no reciprocal arrangement.They want the government to pressurize Washington to enact a similar piece of legislation.



The critics add that Britain should not enforce a treaty that the Americans have failed to ratify.The government’s case is that the arrangement makes it obligatory for both nations to produce an equivalent level of legal evidence when seeking extradition from the other country.



Home Office Minister Baroness Scotland called much of the criticism as based on myths. She is nonetheless flying to Washington to appeal to the Senate to ratify the treaty.



Regardless of what results Baroness Scotland’s trip will produce, the fate of the three former NatWest bankers is not going to change.



Via: BBC