§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will place in the Library of the House of Lords copies of all cables, letters, file notes and other documents known to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, in which the name of Mr. Lorrain Osman is mentioned.
The Earl of CaithnessLorrain Osman is a Malaysian citizen who has been in custody in the United Kingdom since 6th December 1985, facing a request for extradition to Hong Kong on a number of serious charges there involving conspiracy to defraud, conspiracy to steal, bribery, theft and false accounting arising out of dealings amounting to approximately 800 million US dollars of a subsidiary of a major Malaysian bank. On 1st June 1987 he was committed to custody by the Chief Metropolitan Stipendiary Magistrate for surrender. Mr. Osman has made six applications for a writ ofhabeas corpus by way of appeal against this decision and has made two applications to the European Commission of Human Rights. All have failed. The sixth application for habeas corpus was refused by the Divisional Court on 14th November 1991. He has petitioned the House of Lords for leave to appeal against that decision. He lodged a seventh application for habeas corpus on 28th 52WA January. It would not be in the public interest to disclose documents concerning the international relations of the United Kingdom.