Homeland Security

Transcript: Ashcroft on New Extradition, Asset Sharing Pacts with U.K.

(March 31: Treaties cover white collar crime, fraud, organized crime,
money laundering, terrorism, etc.) (680)
U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and British Home Secretary David
Blunkett signed a new bilateral extradition treaty and an agreement on
asset forfeiture assistance and asset sharing March 31 in Washington.
The new extradition treaty, which covers a wide range of criminal
conduct including terrorism, will "give us more flexibility and
efficiency in ensuring that fugitive criminals can be brought to
justice in the country whose laws they have violated and whose people
and institutions they have harmed," Ashcroft explained, while the
asset sharing agreement will "expand and enhance our joint efforts to
trace and confiscate the illegal profits of criminal activity."
"It is our hope that our action today will encourage other countries
to undertake similar agreements with their partner nations in the war
against crime," he said.
Following is Ashcroft's prepared statement:
(begin transcript)
U.S. Department of Justice
March 31, 2003
PREPARED REMARKS OF ATTORNEY GENERAL ASHCROFT
SIGNING OF THE U.S.-U.K. EXTRADITION TREATY AND ASSET SHARING
AGREEMENT
(NOTE [from the Justice Department]: The Attorney General often
deviates from his prepared remarks.)
I welcome my good friend, Home Secretary David Blunkett, to
Washington. I would like to begin by thanking him personally for the
superb cooperation that we receive from the United Kingdom.
The United Kingdom and the United States have a long cooperative
history in law enforcement that has only been strengthened since the
tragedy of September 11th. Our two countries are united in our mutual
respect for the rule of law and love of freedom.
We are here today to sign two significant bilateral agreements aimed
at promoting even greater cooperation between the United Kingdom and
the United States in the area of law enforcement. First, we are
signing a new bilateral extradition treaty. Second, we have reached an
agreement on asset forfeiture assistance and asset sharing.
The Home Secretary and I are keenly aware of the responsibility we
share to preserve the safety and security of our citizens and our
nations. Bilateral and multilateral cooperation and coordination are
essential to our success in fighting crime that routinely crosses
borders and continents.
Our new extradition treaty will give us more flexibility and
efficiency in ensuring that fugitive criminals can be brought to
justice in the country whose laws they have violated and whose people
and institutions they have harmed. The treaty covers criminal conduct
from white collar crime and fraud, to organized crime, money
laundering, and terrorism. The new treaty we are signing today should
serve as a model to the world for successful and efficient cooperation
in bringing international fugitives to justice.
We are also signing an asset sharing agreement this morning. It is an
agreement designed to expand and enhance our joint efforts to trace
and confiscate the illegal profits of criminal activity. Transnational
criminal organizations threaten the safety and security of both of our
nations. Whether they engage in drug trafficking or racketeering or
acts of terrorism, seizing their funds and assets serves to cripple
and dismantle their operations.
The United Kingdom and the United States have historically enjoyed a
productive relationship in the area of asset forfeiture. Our new
agreement gives full recognition to the significance of such
cooperative efforts by authorizing the sharing of assets between our
countries based on the full range of assistance we provide one another
in identifying, seizing, and forfeiting the assets of crime. Today's
agreement is based on the model we developed together in the context
of the G-8. It is our hope that our action today will encourage other
countries to undertake similar agreements with their partner nations
in the war against crime.
Once again, I am honored to join the Home Secretary in signing the new
extradition treaty and the asset sharing agreement between the United
Kingdom and the United States. I am pleased that our negotiating
efforts have met with such success, and I would like to extend my
thanks to our experts for their fine work.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)