§ Mr. GowTo ask the Attorney-General whether he is satisfied that the request for extradition of Mr. Patrick Ryan from Belgium was accompanied by the appropriate legal documents prepared properly in accordance with Belgium law; what information he has as to the grounds on which that request was refused; and what steps he is taking to secure the extradition of Mr. Ryan from the Irish Republic.
§ The Attorney-GeneralI am satisfied that the documents were prepared properly to meet the requirements of Belgian law. The advice of the Belgian prosecuting authorities themselves was sought, given and followed in the preparation of the extradition request.
The request was refused by the Belgium Government on the grounds that:
it would appear from examination of the case that the imprecise charges contained in arrest warrants delivered by the British legal authorities and retained by executing order of the chamber of indictments and investigation of the Appeal Court do not constitute the necessary elements for the offence of conspiracy in Belgian law, the only grounds on which, according to the executing order, extradition to the United Kingdom could have been agreed by Belgium".The court of first instance and the Court of Appeal of Brussels had both upheld the extradition request in relation to the conspiracy charges.
As regards the steps taken to secure Ryan's extradition from the Republic of Ireland, I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the private notice question tabled by the right hon. and learned Member for Aberavon (Mr. Morris) on 1 December. The Irish Attorney-General's Office sent to my Office in the late afternoon of 1 December a letter requesting clarification and further information on certain matters set out in the statements of facts and law sent to him on 25 November. A full response 163W answering all the questions was transmitted to the Irish Attorney-General's Office during the afternoon of 2 December.