Mr Morris
das Barnes Jones,
18 Mar Padow agrees Bowker
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RAIS BIN SANIMAN
1.
Reference
38461
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28/10
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You raise here fin interrogative.
Please see Mr Parker's manuscript minute to me of 26 October and the letter he attaches to Mr Berman from the Hong Kong Attorney General's Office (Mr Mathews). This letter summarises efforts to date to obtain the extradition from France to Hong Kong of Dr Saniman and concludes with a request for advice and assistance over this case. It raises in particular the question of applying "appropriate pressure" by HMG on the French to bring about the extradition.
2.
I see from the file that the FCO, both in London and through our Embassy in Paris has liaised closely with the Hong Kong government over this case - this is acknowledged in the letter to Mr Berman. The request for advice and assistance therefore reads rather oddly. The point of the letter is probably to introduce the question of raising the case at a high level. The file shows that the French lawyers have made a point of this before. I see that the Secretary of State was briefed to raise the issue in June when he visited France (I have not yet established whether or not he did but the absence of confirmation on file suggests he may not have). The last high level demarch was when Mr Fergusson called in June on Quai State Secretary Kiejman to explain our concern to resolve the issue.
3.
The most recent advice from Paris (Mr Macgregor's letter of 17 September to Mr Ricketts) was that chances of getting anywhere with "seizing the Conseil d'Etat" were slim but that it was worth spinning things out beyond March 1993 in the hope that legislative elections would produce a new government willing to revise some of the more dubious legal decisions of the previous one.
4. I have spoken briefly to Mr Upton in WED. His interest is that we should weigh the danger of the case becoming an irritant to bilateral relations against the importance of giving the French a nudge when we judge the time is ripe. (He mentioned incidentally the case of Mr Akba whom the UK wishes to extradite from France in connection with BCCI fraud. It has been agreed that the Attorney General will take an opportunity to raise this case with his French opposite number and/or with Ministers at some stage, timing yet to be agreed.)
5.
Since the French lawyer was only just instructed (Hong Kong tel no 2538) to file with the Conseil d'Etat, it might be best to let this run its course first and allow the French side to take on board this latest development proof of the seriousness with which the British Government views the case.
dbj.saniman
CODE 18-77
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