06-MAY-1992 15:45
BRITISH EMBASSY PARIS
JERMENT HOUSE HONG KONG.
MON 64 MAY 92 07:45
CLIFFORD CHANCE
INTERNAL MEMORANDUM
TO:
Roger Best/John Curran
CC Hong Kong
FROM:
Jean-Paul Bertolas
COPIES:
CC Paris
BMFT/SAFTMAN
16 1 42 66 91 42
P.09
F3.06
thartin
DATE:
21 April 1992
FILE:
AGE00012
I raport below the meeting held on Friday, 17 April 1992 at the offices of Mine Masse Dessen, avocat in the Conseil d'Etat and the Cour de Cessation, with Professor Danny Cohen.
1.
The meeting started by a general discussion on the status of the case and the reasons for the decision of the French Government to refuse to extradite Mr. Saniman. The participants agreed that although there were a fev precedents (in the period 81 (2) it 14 exceptional that the French Government refuses to extradite after positive advice of the Chambre d'Accusation confirmed, furthermore, in the Cour de Cassation. The participants agreed that although there is probably some truth in the reasons given unofficially i.e that after a review of the case internally at the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Justice considered that an extradition decree could be overruled by the Conseil d'Etat on the grounds put forward in the note of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of 20th March, there are certainly other reasons of a more "political“ nature. The only conceivable reason is the uncertainty regarding the statum of the Colony of Hong Kong after 1997.
The participants further agreed that the chances that the decision of the French Government be reversed are almost non existent.
In Ulu Cilat glass, a recourse in the Conseil d'Etat by the Bong Kong Government would be without precedent, would raise material pawblemă sf French administrative law, criminal law and international law and ultimately is unlikely to be successful.
792
as well as being спральнею пал In the second place, even if ultimately the Conseil d'Etat were to nullify the decision of refusal of the French Government, the nullification of that decision would not be tantamount to a positive decision: the French Government would, again, be free to
As a decision of
data whether or not to extradite Mr. Saniman,
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.