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U.S. prosecutors want Lynch to stand trial on 17 counts,
including securities fraud, connected to the sale of Autonomy to
Hewlett-Packard (HP) in a $11 billion deal in 2011.
Lynch categorically denies the charges.
HP has already sued Lynch and Autonomy's former finance chief,
Sushovan Hussain, in London for $5 billion, claiming they
fraudulently inflated the company's value before the sale.
Judgment in the civil trial, during which Lynch took the stand
to argue that HP mismanagement destroyed Autonomy's value, is
awaited.
U.S. prosecutors added more charges to their indictment days
before the civil case started in 2019.
Lynch's lawyer, Alex Bailin, has said the U.S. claim of
jurisdiction is unwarranted.
"These matters concern a British citizen, UK-based conduct, a
UK-listed plc, culminating in a UK civil trial in which judgment
is pending – these matters unquestionably belong here in the
UK," he has said.
He is expected to use a provision called the "forum bar" to
argue against the request. It gives courts the power to refuse
extradition if it is more appropriate to hear the case in
Britain.
"The forum bar exists to provide real protection against this
interventionist type of action and this, we will say, is a
paradigm forum bar case," Bailin said.
The case raises questions about Britain's extradition treaty
with the United States, an agreement that Prime Minster Boris
Johnson has previously said is "imbalanced".
Five former British cabinet ministers, including four from the
ruling Conservative Party, signed a letter to the Times
newspaper last month arguing that Lynch must not be extradited.
"The government cannot stand by as another Briton risks being
delivered like this to the U.S. justice system," the letter
said.
(Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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