Sir Graham Brady, head of the powerful 1922 committee, two former intelligence chiefs including former Mi6 boss Sir John Scarlett and eminent human rights lawyer Lord Carlile of Berriew QC have urged the Home Secretary to act so Alexander Adamescu is not sent back to Romania. And last night they called for the flawed European Arrest Warrant system to be either scrapped or altered so that British judges are given more scope to properly review the provenance of charges.
“The EAW is based on the false premise that every EU country has a criminal justice system that is as fair and well-run as that in our own country. But this is manifestly not the case in Romania,” said Sir Graham.
Mild-mannered Alexander, who lives in London, fears he will not see his partner and three young children again if his application to appeal the extradition is rejected.
Last night, the 42-year-old, said: ”I’m just suffering. I’m in pain every day and it is compounded by their injustice. And from an official point of view, no one cares, no one wants to get involved. It’s deeply frustrating and disappointing.
“I’m constantly thinking about ending it all.”
He is the son of a former Romanian media tycoon whose newspaper was critical of socialist former pm Victor Ponta.
In 2013 Dan Adamescu was arrested for allegedly authorising the bribery of two judges with £20,000 to give favourable decisions in insolvency cases that involved companies in which Adamescu was a shareholder.
Alexander Adamescu fears he won’t see his partner and children again (Image: Getty)
Priti Patel is being urged to back Alexander (Image: Getty)
He was eventually convicted despite the fact that the prosecution relied on the evidence of a sole witness, a lawyer who, himself, was accused of stealing more than £100,000 from the tycoon.
The multimillionaire died in prison a year later, after complaining publicly that he had been denied medication.
In a famous press conference before his conviction Ponta publicly cited the newspaper’s support for a key opponent to Romania’s president, Traian Basescu.
Though Alexander draws a salary from two of his father’s companies, he had already moved to Britain from Germany to pursue his career as playwright when the crimes are alleged to have happened.
He became a Government target, he says, after publicly challenging the state’s acts against his father’s conglomerate, Nova Group.
Having lost a High Court case to remain in the UK, he is currently waiting to see if his application for appeal will be accepted.
But the mild-mannered 42-year-old holds little hope.
“My bags are packed. If my request for appeal is denied, I will have to go back within ten days,” he said last night.
‘I know what awaits me. My father died in prison. I’ve packed a hazmat suit because conditions in Romanian prisons do not protect you from Covid-19. Even so, I fear I will never see my partner and children again.
“My father was treated like a public enemy number one. Ponta announced his arrest 10 days before on television.
“I was charged with the same accusations because I am his son and because I dared to challenge the injustice they’d perpetrated upon him.
“Romania requested an EAW, claiming I was evading justice. It is obviously ridiculous because I’d been living abroad for many years. What was I evading? I wasn’t even there.”
Alexander has packed a hazmat suit to protect himself against COVID-19 (Image: Getty)
He added. “It’s clear their interest in me is political.
“I admit there are times when I got to sleep and wish I hadn’t spoken up for my father and the injustices perpetrated against him, that I’d just focussed on my writing career in London.
“But I was his only son. If not me, then who?”
A report by the former head of MI6 chief Sir John Scarlett, German intelligence chief August Henning and Lord Carlile detailing the corruption behind the case was ruled inadmissible by the court.
Sir Graham added: “Under the current EAW arrangements the British judiciary have very few grounds open to them for refusing to comply with a warrant.
“For Alexander the EAW poses a serious risk if the UK accedes to demands to return him to Romania, where we know he would not benefit from the same standards of justice that we would expect in either Britain or Germany.
Alexander would not have the same standards of justice in Romania (Image: Romania)
“It therefore falls on the government, and particularly the Home Secretary, to exercise discretion to prevent a possible miscarriage of justice.
“I hope the Home Secretary will look very carefully at this particular case.
“If we are to remain in the EAW system it is high time that it was amended to give UK judges wider discretion to intervene where prosecutions appear to be unjust or politically motivated.“
Steve Baker MP said: “The Adamescu case illustrates the grave danger of assuming that all justice systems are equal.
“The Government must look at what is being agreed with the EU and ensure that, never again, is a court put in a position where a man must be sent overseas for trial without proper justification.”
