NatWest 3 witness found dead

Philippe Naughton and Jenny Percival

A senior British banker who was grilled by the FBI as a potential witness in the case of three colleagues facing extradition to the United States has been found dead in a park near his home in East London.

Neil Coulbeck, 53, a former Royal Bank of Scotland executive, was among those questioned by the FBI as part of the Enron investigation. He was head of group treasury at the bank until 2004.

News of the man’s death, an apparent suicide, emerged as the Commons began an emergency debate into the decision to extradite the “NatWest Three”, who deny fraud over the collapse of the energy giant Enron five years ago.

A spokesman for the Royal Bank of Scotland, parent company of Nat West, said tonight: “There is no evidence that Neil was involved in the approval of the sale of the transaction under investigation.”

At one point Mr Coulbeck was RBS’s former head of financial markets for North America. The spokesman said: “Neil was highly regarded by his colleagues here in RBS and was a respected, capable and hard working member of our senior management team.”

The NatWest Three are accused of taking part in a multi-million pound fraud connected to the Enron collapse. All three - David Bermingham, Gary Mulgrew and Giles Darby - have denied any wrongdoing but fear they will be refused bail by the American courts, which could see them locked up in a maximum security jail for up to two years before their trial starts.

Mr Bermingham told Sky News today: “I’m absolutely horrified. It is the most appalling tragedy.

“My heart goes out to his family. It is just awful beyond words.” Asked if he believed the death was linked with his legal case, he said:

“I don’t think I could live with myself if that was a factor.” He confirmed he knew Mr Coulbeck and added: “He was also a thoroughly nice, decent … one of the nicest guys you could ever wish to meet.”

The Metropolitan Police refused to comment beyond a statement confirming that they were investigating after a member of the public, believed to be a dog-walker, discovered a man’s body in parkland close to Newgate Street in Woodford.

“A member of the public discovered the man and contacted police. The male was found on the ground,” the Met said.

“The death is being treated as unexplained at this early stage. Officers from the Homicide and Serious Crime Command are investigating due to their resources and expertise.”

Scotland Yard added that local police were contacted last Thursday about a man missing from his home in Woodford Green. “It is not yet established if the deceased is connected to this report. We believe they know the identity of the man but detailed inquiries are ongoing to confirm this.”

At Prime Minister’s Questions today, however, Tony Blair said that he had been informed that US prosecutors would not oppose conditional bail for the three. Mr Blair insisted that there was no imbalance in extradition arrangements between the UK and the US and rejected demands from the Liberal Democrats to renegotiate the Extradition Act 2003.

Opening the subsequent emergency Commons debate, Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem home affairs spokesman, said that Mr Blair’s claims were “simply and totally incorrect”. He said that the Prime Minister had “short-changed British citizens” by signing a “lopsided” extradition treaty with the US.

Peers voted last night to suspend the extradition arrangements with the US until the American Senate has signed its side of the deal, although it was in a purely symbolic act of defiance since it will not affect the men’s extradition.

Mr Bermingham, Mr Mulgrew and Mr Darby are expected to board a flight to the US tomorrow to face trial over the alleged fraud. They have challenged the legality of their extradition to the US, which makes use of a fast-track treaty that was originally intended for terrorism suspects.

The treaty, ratified by the UK but not Washington, means US authorities do not have to prove there is a case to answer for extradition to be granted, even though prima facie evidence is still required to send US citizens to Britain. The three men want to be tried in England, where the alleged offences took place.

Baroness Scotland, a Home Office minister, is expected to arrive tonight in Washington where she will meet Congressional leaders and Alberto Gonzales, the US Attorney-General, to push for the treaty’s ratification.

Dominic Grieve, the Shadow Attorney General, said the Government should suspend extradition to the US until Washington agreed to rafity the treaty.

After more than three hours of debate MPs voted by 246 to 4, a majority of 242, to suspend debate in a symbolic protest against the treaty. The vote won’t change the fate of the three British men but it increases the pressure on the Government to get the US to ratify the treaty.