PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad Lawyers for two businessmen, described as financiers of the United National Congress (UNC), have asked newly appointed Attorney General Anand Ramlogan to block their extradition to the United States where they are wanted on criminal charges.

In a letter sent to Ramlogan, the lawyers for Ishwar Galbaransingh and Steve Ferguson said the extradition proceedings were unjust and oppressive.

The letter by attorney Nyree Alfonso is the fifth addressed to the Attorney Generals office, but the first addressed to Ramlogan since the election victory of the Peoples Partnership, an amalgam of five political parties and trade unions, including the UNC. The other letters had been sent to the former attorney general John Jeremie.

Ramlogan said he would not comment on matters he was not briefed on and Alfonso said that while she did not expect an early response from him the final decision on the extradition according to Section 16 of the Extradition Act is up to the Attorney Generals discretion.

She argued that extraditing Galbaransingh and Ferguson did not make sense, as their appeal was still before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London, the countrys highest court.

If they were extradited to the United States, they may be incarcerated and unable to return to Trinidad when the case is eventually called before the Privy Council, she told the Express newspaper.

Both Ferguson and Galbaransingh are wanted in Florida on a total of 95 criminal charges related to the Piarco Airport Development Project.

A number of government ministers in the then Basdeo Panday government, including Panday himself, are facing criminal charges related to the airport project.

In the letter to the Attorney General, Alfonso said the extradition proceedings were unjust and oppressive because they are already being prosecuted in Trinidad and Tobago in relation to substantially the same matters.