From:
To:
Sir Robin Butler
Niall Andrews MEP Esq
European Parliament
97-113 rue Belliard
B - 1040 Brussels
Belgium
Thank you for your letter of 21 June about alleged corruption in the
Lorrain Osman case.
An apparent allegation of corruption in the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office was received in March. It was fully investigated and refuted
by the responsible Deputy Under Secretary, Sir John Coles, in
consultation with me. The author of the original allegation then
wrote again to say that he did not in fact accuse the Department or
any individual of corruption. He made a number of other allegations
about the case; as Sir John Coles said in his reply, the correct
place to air such matters is the courts. As you may know, Mr Osman's fifth application for a writ of Habeus Corpus was,
rejected by the Divisional Court on 22 May. Mr Osman has also made two applications to the European Commission of Human Rights. The
first was rejected in March 1989; the second was deemed inadmissable
in March 1991.
sub to pusly refurred leave to appeal
Hof Lands.
Her Majesty's Government are keen that this case should be brought
to a conclusion as soon as possible and Mr Osman's detention in the
in custody UK ended. The fact that he has been held on remand for so long is due entirely to the very extensive use of the appeals procedure he
has made.
MALADF