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Oldest person requested in extradition proceedings - fraud of €96, 766: EAW withdrawn

A, an eighty-four year-old, was requested by the Federal Republic of Germany.

 

The European Arrest Warrant (‘EAW’) was withdrawn after written submissions were filed and served on behalf of A. Those written submissions set out, extensively, A’s positive case in response to the application for her arrest and extradition to Germany. .

 

A was accused of twenty-nine offences of fraud, with a total value of €96,766, allegedly committed over a six-and-a-half-year period. In the event of her conviction for any one such offence, A was liable to a maximum sentence of ten years’ imprisonment.

 

A had allegedly engineered repeated frauds of the Federal Cash Office (Bundeskasse) and the responsible State pension regulatory authority (Bundesfinanzdirektionen).

 

A’s positive case, as pleaded, was that she did not deny any part of the alleged frauds but that there were bars to her extradition pursuant to the 2003 Act; alternatively, resort should be had to less intrusive measures than extradition to resolve the outstanding criminal proceedings. No reliance was placed by A on ill or poor health as a potential bar to order of extradition. A is a high-profile political activist and civil rights campaigner.

 

At the request of the Westminster Magistrates’ Court, the Crown Prosecution Service confirmed that A is the oldest person known to have been requested in UK extradition proceedings.

 

A’s legal representatives arranged for A to present herself, voluntarily, not under compulsion of any power of arrest, and ensured that A at no time was placed in handcuffs or detained in a cell.

 

Abigail Bright defended A, instructed by Edward Jones, partner, Hodge Jones & Allen LLP.