'We look like fools': UK-US ties threatened by corruption case row
Source: The Guardian
'We look like fools': UK-US ties threatened by corruption case row
Exchanges show how American prosecutors stymied British efforts to extradite key suspect
Rob Evans and David Pegg
Thu 23 Jul 2020 11.00 BST
Last modified on Thu 23 Jul 2020 11.46 BST
British anti-corruption investigators accused their US counterparts of deceiving them during a row over a criminal inquiry that threatened cooperation between the countries and prompted the UK to complain that we look like fools.
The extraordinary dispute is laid bare in a series of confidential exchanges, seen by the Guardian, between senior levels of the UKs Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which prosecutes large-scale bribery and corruption, and the US Department of Justice.
The correspondence shows how American prosecutors allegedly went behind the backs of their British counterparts to stymie their efforts to bring a key suspect to trial in the UK.
The dispute was particularly sensitive because Jeremy Wright, the UKs then attorney general, had personally authorised the prosecution of the suspect, Saman Ahsani, who was accused of paying large bribes in an international conspiracy.
The dispute centred on one of the SFOs largest ever investigations, which began five years ago when investigators started to examine a bribery scandal involving Unaoil, a Monaco-based consultancy. Ahsani was one of three members of the family that controlled Unaoil.
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Read more:
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2020/jul/23/we-look-like-fools-uk-us-ties-threatened-by-corruption-case-row