U.S. claims British businessman sold arms to Iran

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A county golf president and retired businessman faces up to 35 years in an American prison over claims he sold arms to Iran.

Christopher Tappin, 63, is the latest Briton to become caught up in the extradition agreement with the U.S. which campaigners and politicians have labelled ‘ rotten’ and ‘one-sided’.

Mr Tappin, described by neighbours as the image of suburban respectability, was caught in a U.S. customs sting aimed at smashing arms trading to Iran.

Grandfather Mr Tappin, the father of two grown-up children, was arrested at his fivebedroom house in Farnborough, Kent, three months ago, and will face an extradition hearing in two weeks’ time.

His lawyers have described the sting as ‘illegal and dishonest’. The case is seen as a further test of the Government’s resolve to reform the extradition agreement with the U.S. which critics say unfairly imperils the liberty of British citizens.

If the U.S. authorities succeed in their attempt to have Mr Tappin extradited, the Home Secretary, Theresa May, will have the final say on whether he should be sent to America.

Mr Tappin’s case has been taken up by Karen Todner, the solicitor fighting to stop the extradition of Asperger’s Syndrome sufferer Gary McKinnon. He faces deportation over allegations he hacked into Pentagon computers looking for ‘little green men’.

Miss Todner said yesterday: ‘Chris Tappin strongly denies these allegations and states that he was the victim of an American sting operation which was conducted in a thoroughly dishonest fashion.’

There was no answer yesterday at Kent County Golf Union president Mr Tappin’s home, where he lives with his wife Elaine.

She is also a director of Mr Tappin’s company, Brooklands Freight Services, and has captained the Kent County Ladies’ golf team.

But in a letter Mr Tappin sent last week to Attorney General Dominic Grieve he wrote: ‘I am completely innocent and extremely aggrieved that the USA can be allowed to make such allegations which could result in the loss of my freedom.’

His ordeal began when he was approached by a client, Robert Gibson, who said he was working with a firm in America to export batteries to a business in Holland.

Mr Tappin said he was told the batteries – worth around £5,000 each – were going to be used in the car industry and he did not suspect anything untoward.

He then liaised with a U.S. firm called Mercury Global Enterprise, without suspecting it was a front for undercover U.S. customs agents to entrap those who had an interest in breaking the arms embargo to Iran.

Mr Tappin insists that the words ‘Iran’ or ‘missiles’ were never mentioned in any of his conversations or emails with the company. He says he also did not know that the American who first approached him to set up the deal had already been arrested in the U.S. and was assisting customs officers with their investigations.

Shami Chakrabarti, director of human rights organisation Liberty, said that if the American authorities believed Mr Tappin was guilty, they should first produce the evidence in a British court.

She continued: ‘This new case must remind the Government to honour the promises of both coalition parties in opposition and review our rotten extradition act. ‘Until the act is amended to put fairness back into the system, no one who indulges in foreign holidays, business dealings or mere use of the internet is safe from being shipped off like freight on the basis of allegations from around the world.’

Jo Johnson, Conservative MP for Orpington, and the brother of London Mayor Boris Johnson, has also taken up Mr Tappin’s case. ‘The extradition treaty is onesided and imbalanced and urgently needs to be reviewed,’ he said.

Fellow Tory MP David Davis, a former shadow home secretary, said: ‘We can’t prejudge the case. ‘However, on the face of it, it looks like precisely the sort of case we were worried about when we opposed the extradition agreement.’