Appendix 5: Extradition and mutual assistance
This appendix provides an overview of the number of extradition and mutual assistance requests carried forward, made and received, and finalised during the 2019–20 financial year. This appendix also provides an overview of the number of International Transfer of Prisoner applications made during the 2019–20 financial year.
To ensure confidentiality, the department does not provide information about individual cases.
International transfer of prisoners
International transfer of prisoners | 2018–19 | 2019–20 |
|---|---|---|
Applications made to transfer from Australia | 26 | 33 |
Applications made to transfer to Australia | 8 | 7 |
Extradition matters dealt with in 2019–20 or continuing
Extradition requests made by Australia | 2019–20 |
|---|---|
Requests carried forward | 33 |
New requests made | 11 |
Requests granted | 3 |
Requests withdrawn | 1 |
Requests refused | 1 |
Requests otherwise finalised | 0 |
Requests continuing | 39 |
Australian extradition requests granted | 2019–20 |
|---|---|
United Kingdom | 1 |
United Arab Emirates | 1 |
Canada | 1 |
Citizenship of people surrendered to Australia | 2019–20 |
|---|---|
Australian | 2 |
Pakistani | 1 |
Canadian | 1 |
Note: As some of these people held dual nationality, the numbers total more than the number of people surrendered.
Categories of offences for which people were surrendered to Australia | 2019–20 |
Sex offences | 1 |
Drug offences | 2 |
Extradition requests made to Australia | 2019–20 |
|---|---|
Requests carried forward1 | 80 |
New requests received | 40 |
Requests granted by the Attorney-General | 11 |
Requests withdrawn | 1 |
Requests refused by the Attorney-General | 3 |
Requests refused by the courts | 0 |
Requests otherwise finalised | 12 |
Requests continuing2 | 91 |
- This figure includes requests that were granted in 2018–19 but not surrendered until 2019–20.
- This figure includes requests that were granted in 2019–20 but the person was awaiting surrender at the end of that financial year.
Countries to which people were surrendered by Australia | 2019–20 |
|---|---|
Brazil | 1 |
Ireland | 1 |
Republic of Korea | 1 |
UK | 4 |
US | 5 |
Citizenship of people surrendered by Australia | 2019–20 |
|---|---|
Australian | 3 |
American | 2 |
Brazilian | 1 |
British | 2 |
Iranian | 1 |
Irish | 1 |
Pakistani | 1 |
South Korean | 1 |
Venezuelan | 1 |
Note: As some of these people held dual nationality, the numbers total more than the number of people surrendered.
Major categories of offences for which people were surrendered | 2019–20 |
|---|---|
Child sex offences | 4 |
Drug offences | 1 |
Fraud/money laundering | 4 |
Property offences | 1 |
Sexual assault | 1 |
Violence offences | 1 |
Note: The number of requests granted and number of persons surrendered in a financial year can differ due to the lapse of time between a surrender determination and a surrender being affected. Extradition requests vary considerably in complexity and the time it takes to resolve them. The complexity of an extradition request depends on the alleged criminal offence or offences and the alleged criminal conduct underlying the offence. The time taken to resolve an extradition request can vary from a few years, if a fugitive wishes to contest extradition and exercise all rights of review and appeal, to a few months if a fugitive consents to extradition.
Consular assistance and extradited Australian nationals
As provided in the 2018 Government Response to the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties Report 177, the department now provides additional information on the number of Australian nationals who have been extradited from Australia.
Year | Number of Australian nationals extradited | Status of trials at end of 2018–19 | Status of trials at end of 2019–20 | Number of persons still awaiting trial at end of 2019–20 | Number of extradited Australian nationals receiving consular assistance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2018–19 | 4 | Two people accepted a plea deal – one was sentenced to two years. | One person was sentenced to time served. One person was acquitted. | 1 | 1 |
2019–20 | 3 | N/A | One set of proceedings have been permanently stayed. | 2 | 1 |
Mutual assistance matters dealt with in 2019–20 or continuing
Mutual assistance in criminal matters requests made by Australia | 2019–20 |
|---|---|
Requests carried forward | 531 |
New requests made/requests reopened | 427 |
Requests finalised | 370 |
Requests continuing | 583 |
* Due to case database reporting constraints there is an anomaly between the recorded number of requests carried forward compared with the requests continuing when the new requests and requests finalised are taken into account. The Mutual Assistance case database was changed on 12 November 2019, with constraints of the former database impacting the availability of statistics. The reported requests continuing accurately reflects the cases on hand.
Mutual assistance in criminal matters requests made to Australia | 2019–20 |
|---|---|
Requests carried forward | 294 |
New requests/requests reopened | 477 |
Requests finalised | 452 |
Requests continuing | 342 |
Comparative statistics for extradition and mutual assistance cases
Year | Cases carried forward | New requests made | Requests granted | Requests refused | Requests otherwise finalised |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2009–10 | 30 | 19 | 13 | 3 | 2 |
2010–11 | 31 | 21 | 12 | 0 | 3 |
2011–12 | 37 | 14 | 9 | 0 | 5 |
2012–13 | 37 | 16 | 14 | 1 | 4 |
2013–14 | 34 | 15 | 18 | 0 | 6 |
2014–15 | 25 | 9 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
2015–16 | 24 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 2 |
2016–17 | 20 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 |
2017–18 | 20 | 19 | 9 | 2 | 1 |
2018–19 | 27 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 5 |
2019–20 | 33 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
Year | Cases carried forward | New requests made | Requests granted | Requests refused | Requests otherwise finalised |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2009–10 | 38 | 30 | 6 | 1 | 11 |
2010–11 | 50 | 23 | 5 | 0 | 11 |
2011–12 | 57 | 22 | 10 | 1 | 16 |
2012–13 | 52 | 23 | 11 | 2 | 15 |
2013–14 | 47 | 43 | 13 | 2 | 18 |
2014–15 | 57 | 32 | 10 | 1 | 13 |
2015–16 | 60 | 28 | 11 | 1 | 16 |
2016–17 | 60 | 16 | 9 | 1 | 1 |
2017–18 | 65 | 40 | 8 | 1 | 21 |
2018–19 | 79 | 40 | 17 | 2 | 10 |
2019–20 | 80 | 40 | 11 | 0 | 3 |
Year | Cases carried forward | New requests made | Requests finalised | Requests refused |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2009–10 | 239 | 182 | 192 | 0 |
2010–11 | 229 | 203 | 175 | 0 |
2011–12 | 257 | 263 | 225 | 0 |
2012–13 | 295 | 292 | 259 | 0 |
2013–14 | 328 | 352 | 303 | 0 |
2014–15 | 377 | 338 | 321 | 0 |
2015–16 | 397 | 366 | 304 | 0 |
2016–17 | 468 | 307 | 294 | 0 |
2017–18 | 481 | 352 | 351 | 0 |
2018–19 | 535 | 412 | 416 | 0 |
2019–20 | 531 | 417 | 365 | 1 |
Year | Cases carried forward | New requests made | Requests finalised | Requests refused |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2009–10 | 156 | 380 | 373 | 1 |
2010–11 | 162 | 427 | 438 | 0 |
2011–12 | 151 | 387 | 391 | 1 |
2012–13 | 146 | 398 | 385 | 1 |
2013–14 | 159 | 321 | 345 | 0 |
2014–15 | 135 | 340 | 316 | 0 |
2015–16 | 166 | 398 | 383 | 0 |
2016–17 | 192 | 429 | 375 | 0 |
2017–18 | 246 | 409 | 429 | 2 |
2018–19 | 326 | 460 | 492 | 2 |
2019–20 | 294 | 477 | 452 | 11 |
Breaches of undertakings
In response to the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties' Report 91 and the House Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs’ Advisory report on the Extradition and Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation Amendment Bill 2011, the Australian Government undertook to report all breaches of undertakings in extradition or mutual assistance processes that come to the attention of the government, in the department’s annual report. No breaches of undertakings have come to the department’s attention in 2019-20. Additionally the department has not noted any breaches of substantive obligations contained in bilateral extradition treaties during the report period.
Visit
https://www.transparency.gov.au/annual-reports/attorney-generals-department/reporting-year/2019-20-35