THE LAST piece in the complex Carrian jigsaw puzzle could be in place this month as the extradition hearing to bring disgraced investment banker Ewan Launder back to Hong Kong gets underway.
Anti-corruption officers are optimistic about bringing the 58-year-old back to the territory to face bribery charges relating to the collapse of the Carrian empire.
Launder will appear at London's Bow Street Magistrate's Court on Tuesday for a hearing which is expected to run for more than a week. The former chief executive of Wardley International is accused of accepting bribes worth $45 million in return for granting credit facilities to the Carrian Group and Eda Investment in the early 1980s.
Securing the extradition hearing itself was something of a relief to investigators of the Independent Commission Against Corruption, who were surprised when Launder was granted GBP500,000 (HK$5.75 million) bail at Bow Street last October. Launder also had to provide two sureties totalling GBP150,000.
And it could be one of the sureties who proved to be a crucial factor in the commission losing its plea for extradition. Law enforcers believe a surety of GBP50,000 from Lord Goodman, one of the most influential solicitors in British public and politicallife, clinched the bail.
Confidant, friend and legal adviser to several members of the royal family and former prime ministers Harold Wilson and Edward Heath, Lord Goodman is also a family friend of Launder. It is widely believed that Lord Goodman's surety is the one heavyweightpunch which may keep Launder on British soil.