LONDON (Reuters) - Authorities are seeking the extradition of an eighth suspect still at large in an insider trading probe involving printing offices at the London branches of two top banks, a source familiar with the case said. The source said on Wednesday the missing suspect remained abroad but was unsure whether an international arrest warrant had already been issued. "He is not in the UK," the source said.
The hunt for the eighth man comes after the Financial Services Authority on Tuesday charged seven men with 13 counts of insider trading, netting them unlawful profits of 2.5 million pounds.
The men were linked to printing offices at Swiss bank UBS AG (UBSN.VX) (UBS.N) and UK brokerage Cazenove (JPM.N).
The case, which comes after a 21-month investigation, centres on a two-year conspiracy to deal on inside information in 12 UK-listed companies, including in media group Reuters during its 2007 takeover by Canadian financial data and news company Thomson Corp (TRI.TO) (TRI.N). The FSA said the trades took place between January 1, 2007 and May 31, 2007.
Other companies involved were software firm Misys (MSY.L), industrial materials group Morgan Crucible (MGCR.L), travel group Laidlaw International, waste manager Biffa WSAQTB.UL, drilling operator Abbot Group TRBTAG.UL, oil and gas group Premier Oil (PMO.L), professional services company Vega Group, radio group GCap Media, fabric group Fiberweb (FWEB.L), food services group Enodis and telecoms firm Thus Group.
"We noted the action by the FSA yesterday, but we had no prior knowledge of the situation," said Carl Gibson, a spokesman at Misys.
Thomson Reuters, Vega, Premier Oil, Abbot Group, Enodis and Morgan Crucible all declined to comment. Officials at GCap, Biffa, Firstgroup (FGP.L), which now owns Laidlaw, Cable and Wireless (CW.L), which now owns Thus, and Fiberweb were not immediately available for comment.
The investigation, codenamed Saturn, involved a team of 35 investigators, lawyers and support staff sifting through 75 electronic devices, 200,000 electronic files, 130 trading accounts and taking more than 250 witness statements.
The FSA, which had previously arrested eight in July 2008, declined to comment on whether it had requested city of Westminster Magistrates' Court to issue an international arrest warrant on its behalf for the eighth man.
The court also declined to comment.
The regulator has named those charged to date as Ali Mustafa, Pardip Saini, Paresh Shah, Neten Shah, Bijal Shah, Truptesh Patel and Mitesh Shah, who has also been charged with placing spread bets to launder proceeds.
Additional reporting by Kate Holton, Lorraine Turner, Rosalba O'Brien and Rhys Jones. Editing by Douwe Miedema and Andrew Callus
Reuters UK
