cases involving drug trafficking and money laundering. The FCO should also be advised of any cases referred to Home Office Ministers (see paragraph [ 1). All referrals to the FCO should be made to Economic Relations Department, Room E316, FCO Main Building;
(tel 270-2683).
11
You may wish to include the final sentence of paragraph 19 of the present draft elsewhere, and include the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in the list in paragraph 8.
5. I agree that the FCO should also be consulted about seeking assistance from certain countries, given our assurance of reciprocity. I suggest that paragraph 59 (e) of the notes read as follows:
"checks whether the requested country is listed in Annex B. If so, the FCO should be consulted (contact point given in paragraph 19 above)"
6. As you know, the FCO has agreed to second an officer to work in the Central Authority because of the possibility that some requests might be of interest to us. We would hope that this officer would be able to see all requests and handle referrals to the FCO. This would enable that person to develop a feel for the sort of cases we are interested in. We hope that this person would also, to some extent, act as a backstop to catch any cases which, for whatever reason, had not been caught by the application of the guidance notes.
7. There is one general point which occurs to me concerning the guidance notes. As you know, our bilateral confiscation agreements and the draft UK/US MLAT contain articles specifying grounds for refusal of assistance. Are you content that the guidance notes are adequate to ensure that case officers will consider whether the request should be refused? This point will be especially important should we succeed in concluding the UK/US MLAT because grounds for refusal (eg absence of double criminality, double jeopardy, and extraterritoriality) have been the tough area of the negotiations. The guidance notes will probably need to be reviewed if and when the MLAT comes into effect.
8.
I attach a copy of a note from FCO Legal Advisers which covers the point in the postscript to your letter.
Yours ever Audru par
A K Soper
Economic Relations Department
E316 270-2682
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