Bankers fight Enron extradition

Bermingham and the other two say they want to clear their names

Three former NatWest bankers have appeared at a London court to face a US extradition hearing in connection with the collapsed energy giant Enron.

David Bermingham, Gary Mulgrew and Giles Darby - all 42 - deny they colluded with Enron to sell an investment firm at a knockdown price.

The alleged victims and perpetrators are based in the UK but US prosecutors want the trio to face trial in the US.

The UK's Crown Prosecution Service has not brought any charges against them.

The trio said they want to clear their names in a UK court.

"The US did not really want to prosecute them for defrauding their bank in London but to get these defendants to implicate people in the Enron scandal," Defence counsel Alun Jones QC said.

Bankers at centre of extradition test case

"The reason these proceedings were advanced was to advance the case against American targets. It was simply a British means to an American end."

Mr Jones said his clients had contacted the Crown Prosecution Service, the Financial Services Authority, the Serious Fraud Office and the Home Secretary David Blunkett, but none of them had decided to start an investigation in the UK.

US prosecutors want them to face trial in Texas, home of energy firm Enron, which collapsed three years ago in a major financial scandal.

Fortunes made

The accused, who say that if they are extradited they could face up to two years in a Texan jail before going to trial and, if found guilty, they could face 30 years in jail.

'We've never avoided justice,' says Mulgrew

The men do not deny they made fortunes but they insist it was all legal and that they can prove it in the UK.

The hearing at Bow Street Magistrates' Court is expected to last three days.

Mr Bermingham, of Manor Road, Goring, Oxfordshire, Mr Darby, of Lower South Wraxall, near Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire and Mr Mulgrew, who divides his time between Sible Hedingham, Essex, and a flat in Brighton, are on conditional bail.

Mr Mulgrew said: "Through all this, we've never, ever tried to avoid justice. Never, not for one day.

"We've never tried to avoid the accusations, or the humiliation, or the embarrassment, or defied our role in this."

"Now what we're hoping for is a fair chance to clear our name."

Gareth Crossman, policy director of civil rights campaign group Liberty, told BBC News Online it was incumbent on the British authorities to explain why the trial could not be held in the UK.

Darby does not deny they made fortunes

"We hope the authorities are not thinking, 'well it can be dealt with by the Americans,'" he said.

"The men face being away for 18 months, away from their family, friends and supporters during a very difficult and traumatic time.

"We're not suggesting that they should not be tried.

"If they can be tried in the UK, then they should be tried in the UK," he added.

MP's backing

Liberty has said extradition of the three men may be in breach of Article 8 of the European convention on human rights which sets out a right to respect for an individual's family and private life.

The proceedings are the first to have been brought under Part 2 of the new Extradition Act 2003, which came into effect this January.

Sir Menzies Campbell MP, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, has also spoken out on the proceedings.

He said: "These men deserve a fair trial.

"I'm not sure whether they are guilty or innocent, but it does seem to me that if any offence was committed, it was committed here in Great Britain.

"That's why they ought to be tried here."