Washington, June 13: The United States today said it will ”review” any request by India about extradition of former Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson ”The US has an Extradition Treaty with India…If India makes an extradition request, the US will review it,” Assistant Secretary Philip J. Crowley said at his daily press briefing.
He, however, said Extradition requests were confidential. Mr Crowley refused to compare the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill with the Bhopal gas leak in which more that 20,000 people died and thousands others face the after effects when the poisonous Methyl Iso-Cynate (MIC) Gas from Union Carbide factory passed over a sleeping city of Bhopal in 1984.
Replying to a question about India claiming to have already made the extradition request for the former Union Carbide chief, Mr Crowley said he had said ”as a general rule, extradition requests are confidential.” Asked to comment on perception in India that the ”main roadblock” to this was coming from the U.S. as India said US was asking for ”more and more information,” Mr Crowley said he was not in a position to verify whether there was such a request or whether the US had responded to it.
”Well, since if extradition requests are confidential, I’m not in a position to verify, in fact, whether we have such a request or whether we have responded to it,” he added.
A senior official of the External Affairs Ministry had said early this week that India had made requests for Anderson’s extradition but the US wanted more evidence.
Asked about the role of US companies and corporate responsibilities in other countries in wake of the Bhopal gas leak case and the BP oil spill, the Assistant Secretary said it was difficult to compare the two incidents.
He said that in the case of Bhopal tragedy, there was a settlement a number of years ago and an effort towards re-mediation.
”It’s hard to necessarily draw a direct comparison between the two. Certainly, if I recall, in the case of Bhopal there was a settlement realized a number of years ago. And I believe that there was an effort towards remediation…You have an ongoing situation here. BP, as a private company, has stepped up and indicated it will take its own steps since it owns the well to stop the leak and to pay for the mitigation of the impact,” he added.
–Agencies