In a landmark ruling, the House of Lords has unanimously voted that IanNorris, former head of Morgan Crucible, will not be extradited to theUS. Norris was charged with price-fixing, which was not anextraditable offense between 1989 and 2000, when his crimes allegedlytook place.
"We're absolutely delighted that the House of Lords has upheld whatwe've been saying for more than two years, namely that no criminaloffence of price-fixing existed in the UK prior to the enactment of theEnterprise Act and that price-fixing in itself cannot be characterizedas the old English common law offence of conspiracy to defraud, " saidAlistair Graham, a partner in the Litigation Practice at White &Case in London, who represented Norris.
"The Department of Justice's attempts to extradite Ian on thisbasis were of grave concern to the UK business community at large,human rights organizations and the political opposition parties,"Graham continued.
The case has been closely watched by the political, business andlegal communities and the verdict received significant coverage inoutlets such as The Financial Times, BBC News, The Independent, The Lawyer and Legal Week.
"We're absolutely delighted that the House of Lords has upheld whatwe've been saying for more than two years, namely that no criminaloffence of price-fixing existed in the UK prior to the enactment of theEnterprise Act and that price-fixing in itself cannot be characterizedas the old English common law offence of conspiracy to defraud, " saidAlistair Graham, a partner in the Litigation Practice at White &Case in London, who represented Norris.
"The Department of Justice's attempts to extradite Ian on thisbasis were of grave concern to the UK business community at large,human rights organizations and the political opposition parties,"Graham continued.
The case has been closely watched by the political, business andlegal communities and the verdict received significant coverage inoutlets such as The Financial Times, BBC News, The Independent, The Lawyer and Legal Week.