The Financial Services Authority (“FSA”) has had, to date (and with no sign of abating), a busy year. It has secured a number of high-profile prosecutions,
- most recently of a former Cazenove partner;
- it has banned traders for mis-marking positions to the detriment of employers and investors;
- it has fined domestic and foreign nationals for insider trading and market manipulation; and, now,
- it has successfully applied for a European Arrest Warrant (“EAW”), which has been executed by the French authorities on its overseas territory, Mayotte in the Comoros Islands, to detain a Singaporean national as part of a wider investigation into insider dealing.
In obtaining an EAW, the FSA has taken advantage of a judicial process that, until now, has been the preserve of the other UK’s prosecuting authorities.
It is another step away from its traditional role as the City’s regulator.
The EAW, valid throughout the European Union has streamlined extradition procedures between Member States of the enlarged Europe.
An EAW may be issued by a national issuing judicial authority if the person whose return is sought is accused of an offence for which the maximum period of the penalty is at least a year in prison, or if he or she has been sentenced to a prison term of at least four months.
On conviction, an individual guilty of insider trading is liable to fine or imprisonment, on summary conviction, to a term not exceeding six months and, on indictment, to a term not exceeding seven years.
The EAW is designed to simplify the extradition process, within the EU. It is predicated on the notion that Member States share mutual confidence in the legal processes of all other Member States. It also removes the political decision whether or not to surrender an individual to extradition. It is in marked contrast to the long drawn-out extradition processes encountered by the “NatWest Three” and Ian Norris, the former chief executive of Morgan Crucible, whose extradition to the US has recently been affirmed by the European Court of Human Rights.
Beyond the frontiers of the EU, the extradition process remains the means states employ to request the surrender of individuals, with some countries (such as the US) enjoying very favourable conditions in its relationship with the UK.
Read more: http://www.mcgrigors.com/e-bulletin/fraud/eb_22_march_10.html#page=1
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