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PUS TALKS IN PARIS WITH THE FRENCH SECRETARY GENERAL:
26 APRIL 1993
EXTRADITION FROM FRANCE TO HONG KONG OF DR SANIMAN
Background
1.
The Hong Kong Government (HKG) seek the extradition from France of Dr Rais Bin Saniman (a Malay national) to face charges of conspiracy to defraud and accepting corrupt payments on a massive scale involving Bumiputra Malaysia Finance Ltd (BMFL). This is the same fraud case which involves Mr Lorrain Osman who was recently extradited to Hong Kong. It is the biggest ever fraud case in Hong Kong.
Ministers agreed in May 1992 to support the Hong Kong's efforts to seek administrative redress in France when these started running into difficulties. We are in close touch with the Embassy in Paris and the Attorney General in Hong Kong to coordinate reinforcement at a political level of the legal process. Sir J Coles went over the ground with the Director General for Asian Affairs at the Quai on 8 January. (You were prevented by lack of time from doing the same when you saw M. Boidevaix last December).
2.
3. Paris alerted us on 22 April that the new French Minister of Justice (M Mehaignerie) is expected to put his signature very soon to the Ministry's observations on the Saniman case to the Conseil d'Etat (where the case now rests). The position of the Ministry thus far has been particularly unhelpful. Mr Goodlad wrote on 23 April to Sir Nicholas Lyell to ask him to write quickly to M Mehaignerie about our concerns over the case and to prepare the ground for possible resolution threough discussions between the Ministry and our and the Hong Kong Goverment's - representatives.
4. We do not yet know whether the Attorney General will be prepared to take this on. (We approached him last November when he was due to call on the then French Minister of Justice, but Sir Nicholas felt that to raise Saniman then might seriously complicate representations he was to make on the Akbar extradition case now resolved).
5. The HKG have been pursuing this case through the French courts since 1986. A first request in November 1987 for extradition was refused; a second in October 1990 led to a recommendation that Dr Saniman be extradited. His appeal against this decision was rejected on 30 March 1991, but the Ministry of Justice decided in February 1992 to overturn the recommendation.
A.
6.The Hong Kong Government, having won in the Courts, were dismayed by this decision and dissatisfied with the cursory
saniman.brief
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