NatWest bankers face US trial

THREE City bankers accused of a £3.9m fraud face trial in the US after the Home Secretary ordered their extradition. Charles Clarke has ruled that they should be tried in a court in Texas, where they could be jailed for up to 35 years.

His decision has huge implications for Britain's legal system. It was made under controversial legislation allowing the US to prosecute Britons for crimes allegedly carried out in this country.

Former NatWest managing directors David Bermingham, Gary Mulgrew and Giles Darby deny plotting to defraud their former employer with the help of executives from failed US energy giant Enron.

They allegedly told the bank they had brokered a deal to sell Swap Sub, an investment company which it owned, to Enron for £560,000.

In fact, the firm was sold to Enron for £11m and the defendants are said to have pocketed the difference. They allegedly took £1.3m each while Enron bosses shared £6.7m.

A judge at an extradition hearing said last October that there were no obstacles to them facing 'wire fraud' charges in Texas but the final decision rested with the Government.

Clarke yesterday announced he was 'satisfied there is no consideration which would prevent him ordering extradition of the individuals to the US.'

The prospect of languishing in a Texan jail is a far cry from the lavish lifestyles the three are used to. Bermingham, 42, lives in a £ 2m mansion in Goring, Oxfordshire. Former Glasgow bouncer Mulgrew, 43, has a luxury home in Halstead, Essex, while Darby, 42, once owned a £1m home in Broxbourne, Herts.

The exploits of the three were so notorious that one of their colleagues turned them into a novel The Pursuit Of Happiness - Overpaid, Oversexed And Over There. Mulgrew appears as the Scottish hero Braveheart while Darby is renamed the Energizer Bunny, apparently a reference to his boundless energy.

The move to extradite them comes despite the fact that all the defendants are British, the alleged offences took place in this country and most of the witnesses are based here.

They are to be taken to the US under the 2003 Extradition Act, which ministers originally argued was intended for terror suspects after the September 11 attacks. The Home Office has admitted, however, that out of 45 US requests for extradition, 22 relate to white-collar crime and only three involve terrorism charges.

The bankers have 14 days to appeal against the extradition decision. They have requested a judicial review of the Serious Fraud Office's decision not to prosecute them in Britain.

Their lawyer, Mark Spragg, compared the case with that of hook-handed Muslim cleric Abu Hamza, whose taxpayer-funded battle against deportation to the US could take two years.

'US authorities have made a request for Abu Hamza and he has not gone,' he said. 'If the Hook has not gone, why should our guys go?'

Bermingham said: 'It is a sad day for Britain when the Government is prepared to put political expediency ahead of the protection of its own citizens.'