There are currently three British guys awaiting extradition to the US where they will find out if they are going to jail for financial misdemeanours. There are a great many others in the money system lucky not to be enduring a similar fate.

As I see it, these men, the so called Nat West Three, were bankers who played at being business men and stumbled over the line of legality. They got on the carousel that is modern commercial banking and were swallowed up in an unfortunate clash of circumstances.

First: they were part of that new banking culture where ordinary bankers see themselves as thrusting capitalists at the cutting edge of business rather than the benign score-keepers they actually are.

Second: they became a side-issue in the catastrophic collapse of US based energy company Enron thus being embroiled in the dramatic criminal investigation that followed.

Third: they fell prey to a ridiculous extradition treaty which allows America to come into Britain and pick off virtually any British citizen of its choosing for investigation without due process. This was an agreement for terrorist matters but of course like all such legislation can be used for any alleged crime.

Probably in the minds of most there is some kind of natural justice here as ruthless financial speculators get their comeuppance. They played with fire and got burnt. They were deal-making to score massive returns from doing nothing other than moving paper around and got out their depth.

Deserving or not this is hardly fair. To suggest that these guys are doing differently to thousands of others on a daily basis throughout the business world would not be accurate. It is only unfortunate for them in the way life often is. By grace only will many such others go unscathed.