The Guardian
Former Renault pair will probably not be extradited, Singapore unwilling to attract bad publicity
Renault’s former managing director Flavio Briatore and the team’s former executive director of engineering Pat Symonds could be extradited to Singapore to face criminal charges in connection with the race-fixing claims during last year’s grand prix, but legal experts think it unlikely.
Reports claimed the pair could face legal action in Singapore after they were accused of asking Nelson Piquet Jr to crash in order to help his team-mate Fernando Alonso win the race. A lawyer said any extradition would depend on two points.
“One, are they based in countries with which Singapore has an extradition treaty? And, two, is what they’ve done considered an extraditable offence?” Nicholas Narayanan told Singapore Law Watch.
Briatore is an Italian citizen while Symonds is a UK citizen. Singapore has an extradition treaty with the UK but not Italy.
The pair could be charged with three offences under Singapore law, according to the lawyer: causing malicious or willful damage to property, endangering a vehicle and criminal conspiracy to commit a serious crime.
Singapore could request extradition from a Commonwealth country for someone charged for offences which are deemed “extradition crimes”. However, it is unlikely that any charges Briatore and Symonds might be asked to answer would be considered as such. Moreover, the country would be loth to attract the bad publicity any such move would attract.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/sep/18/renault-flavio-briatore-formula-one