Ian Norris wins appeal against US extradition - Telegraph

Ian Norris wins appeal against US extradition - Telegraph

Ian Norris wins appeal against US extradition

By Russell Hotten
Last Updated: 12:26pm GMT 12/03/2008

Businessman Ian Norris, wanted in the US on charges of price-fixing, spoke of his relief today after winning a House of Lords appeal to halt his extradition.

Mr Norris, 65, former chief executive of engineering company Morgan Crucible, has been charged in the US with conspiring with other executives to rig prices of components in the 1990s and trying to obstruct an ensuing investigation.

Ian Norris, the former chief executive of engineering company Morgan Crucible, has won his Hiuse of Lords Appeal against extradition to the US over price-fixing charges
Ian Norris will not be extradited to the US

But the House of Lords today upheld his appeal, saying that price-fixing was not a crime in the UK at the time of the alleged misconduct and so he should not be extradited.

Mr Norris said: "The ruling has at last given some light at the end of the tunnel, in what has been a very unfair and difficult situation for my family and me.

"Even with the decision today, I still remain deeply concerned about the one-sided extradition arrangements we have struck up with the USA. It's a deeply frightening situation to be in and I'm relieved that the UK justice system has stood up for its citizens."

Charges that Mr Norris tried to obstruct the US investigation are being referred back to the courts, though the House of Lords judgement made clear that this was a subsidiary issue. Lawyers said it was unlikely that Mr Norris would ever be extradited on this point.
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Norris retired from Morgan Crucible in 2002 after battling prostate cancer. US prosecutors claim he colluded with rivals to fix prices on carbon parts, to avoid undercutting each other on sales. The cartel, which originally operated in Europe, spread to the US in 1989 and continued until 2000, according to a U.S. indictment.

Morgan Crucible and its North Carolina subsidiary, Morganite, agreed to pay a total of $11m in fines to settle related antitrust charges in November 2002. But Mr Norris was not covered by that agreement and has been fighting the charges since his arrest in London in January 2005.

The British government first authorized Mr Norris's extradition in September 2005, after a lower court ruled it would be appropriate for the businessman to be tried in the US.

Mr Norris's solicitor, Alistair Graham, of White & Case, said today: "We're absolutely delighted that the House of Lords has upheld what we have been saying for more than two years: namely, that no criminal offence for price-fixing existed in the UK prior to the enactment for the Enterprise Act in 2002.

"The US Department of Justice's attempts to extradite Ian on this basis were of grave concern to the UK business community at large, human rights organisations and the political opposition parties. Today's ruling lays those concerns to rest," Mr Graham said.

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