Lebanon has rebuffed a high level request by Australia to drop its rival extradition bid for crime boss Tony Mokbel, also known as "Fat Tony". The knock-back has handed Mokbel a glimmer of hope that he may end up in a Lebanese jail from where he would not be extradited to Australia to face murder charges. Canberra has protested against the mysterious eleventh-hour attempt by Lebanese prosecutors to seek the extradition of Mokbel - a move that directly competes with Australia's own bid to extradite the underworld king from Greece back to Melbourne. Greece has not yet received a formal application from Lebanon for Mokbel's extradition but Lebanese prosecutors late last month gave notice of intent to lodge an extradition request.
The Australian understands that vigorous high-level representations to Lebanon to drop its request to Greek authorities for Mokbel's extradition have so far fallen on deaf ears. The rebuff came despite Canberra stating that Mokbel was arguably Australia's most wanted criminal and his case was an important one.
Australian officials are not sure why Lebanon would seek to extradite Mokbel, who also holds a Lebanese passport and has family in the north of the country. They are also puzzled by the lack of details provided by Lebanon about the extradition request. It is still unclear what crimes Lebanon wants to extradite him for, and why that country would challenge Australia on a case of such importance.
Under Lebanese law, a citizen with joint foreign nationality can be subject to extradition for offenses committed overseas. No evidence has emerged to support speculation that Mokbel's connections may have bribed officials in Lebanon to make the extradition request.
Lebanon's rival extradition bid means Greece may be forced to make a choice between the two countries. Mokbel was arrested in Athens in June after 15 months on the run and is exhausting every legal processs available to delay being sent back to Australia, where he faces a further 18 charges, including two for murder.
Mokbel's Australian lawyer, Mirko Bagaric, said yesterday he had still not received details about the Lebanese extradition bid. But he said that if there were rival extradition bids, Greece would be under no legal obligation to choose one side over the other and it would come down to which country Greece wanted to please the most. "There are no internationally recognised standards when requests compete - it becomes a matter of international politics rather than international law or which country has more clout,' he said.
On a separate matter, Mr Bagaric said his client was likely to appeal to the Australian High Court to avoid being extradited back to Melbourne. This follows last week's decision by the full bench of the Federal Court in Melbourne to reject Mokbel's appeal against an earlier Federal Court ruling that the Australian Government's extradition request was valid.
Mokbel's legal team had argued that the extradition request should be declared invalid because the wrong minister had signed it - they claim the request should have been signed by Attorney-General Philip Ruddock rather than Justice Minister David Johnston.
Spokeswomen for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Justice Minister declined to comment on the case yesterday. Mokbel is due to appear in the Greek Supreme Court in Athens again on December 4. While on the run last year, he was sentenced in absentia to a minimum of nine years' jail for importing almost 2kg of cocaine from Mexico. He has since been charged with the murders of underworld rival Lewis Moran and drug dealer Michael Marshall during Melbourne's gangland war.