TNAG-2655-FCO40-3848-Extradition-cases-from-the-UK-and-France-to-Hong-Kong-Lorrai-1992 — Page 46

DRAFT LETTER FROM MR GOODLAD

November 1992

Peter Bottomley MP

House of Commons

LONDON

SWIA OAA

I am

Thank you for your letter of 20 November to Douglas Hurd about early day motions, numbers 902 and 905. replying, as I have ministerial responsibility for Hong Kong and South East Asia in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

The motions relate to the case of Mr Lorrain Osman, a Malaysian businessman detained in the UK since December 1985 pending extradition to Hong Kong to face serious charges of fraud and corruption. Mr Osman has made nine unsuccessful applications for a writ habeas corpus. His lengthy detention in the UK is due to the very extensive use of the appeals process which he has chosen to make in order to avoid extradition.

In his judgment on the 6th habeas corpus application, Lord Justice Woolf stated the following:

"There is no doubt it is deeply disturbing that after this period of time, after Mr Osman has been in custody in prison in this country for far too long, it should still be uncertain whether he is to be returned to Hong Kong. However, when you look at the history (....) it appears to me that this is a situation that Mr Osman has brought upon himself by his own actions, as the result of a deliberate course of conduct upon which he has embarked, designed to use the machinery of this Court and other courts as a way of preventing his return to Hong Kong.

It appears to me that this is a situation where he has embarked upon a war of attrition designed to wear down the Hong Kong Government, so as to prevent his return. doubt whatsoever that when the present application is considered in the context of the previous applications, it is indeed an abuse of process of the Court. It is using the machinery of the Court for purposes for which it should not be used."

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