A British solicitor is going to the High Court to fight extradition to the United States where he faces corruption charges.
Jeffrey Tesler, 62, from north London, is accused by the American authorities of involvement in a conspiracy to channel bribes to senior government officials in Nigeria.
It is alleged that bribes were paid from a 132 million dollar (£88.4m) slush fund to influence the awarding of a six billion dollar (£4bn) construction contract for a natural gas plant on Bonny Island in Nigeria.
District judge Caroline Tubbs, sitting at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London, rejected Tesler’s attempts to stay in the UK and said his extradition should go ahead.
He is wanted by the prosecuting authorities in Houston, Texas.
Lawyers for Tesler, who has dual British-Israeli nationality, had argued that the alleged corruption was not an extradition offence.
Sending the solicitor to the US would breach his right to a family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
It was also claimed his access to a fair trial was compromised by the passage of time because the alleged crimes date back as far as 1994.
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