In an open letter, whistleblower Jonathan Taylor asks why authorities in Monaco and Croatia continue to detain him.
” I am a whistleblower. When working at oil platform company SBM Offshore in Monaco, I blew the whistle on a $275 million international network of bribes to secure oil contracts around the world. This was back in 2012. I have long since left SBM.
At the time of writing this letter it will be 177 days I have been detained against my will in Croatia. I arrived here with my family in July 2020 for a holiday to find I was being arrested under an Interpol Red Notice by the public prosecutor in Monaco on charges of “bribery and corruption” and facing extradition to Monaco. I not only deny these charges, but the Monaco Prosecutor has written that they are not what he wants me extradited for.
My case has attracted media coverage here in the UK as well as Europe and been debated in both the House of Commons and Lords. I have been supported by UK and European civil and human rights campaigners and UK whistleblowing charity Protect all calling for my safe return to the UK. The UK Government need to palpably demonstrate they care about whistleblowers and public interest wrongdoing.
Evidence on my whistleblowing disclosures, which I provided to the UK Serious Fraud Office, and investigators in Brazil and the Netherlands as well as the FBI and the Department of Justice in the United States, helped ensure SBM Offshore was fined over $827 million. The Serious Fraud Office, who I am currently assisting with a new matter, encourage people to speak up about wrongdoing, but where is their duty of care towards whistleblowers like me?
Interpol – at the request of authorities in Monaco recently withdrew my arrest warrant for ‘corruption and blackmail’ but I am still facing extradition so I can be ‘interrogated’ over alleged offences. An Interpol Red Notice alert can only be issued to arrest someone for extradition if they fall with one of two categories. Either the individual is:
- awaiting a trial – prosecution for an offence for which he or she has been formally charged – or
- the individual has already been convicted of crime and is wanted in order to serve their lawful sentence.
Puzzling too, is Monaco’s lack of awareness and safeguarding in a world battling Covid. As most legal jurisdictions and global governments turn to technology to do responsible business – why then, not Monaco? Given there is no trial to face or sentence to serve or now no arrest warrant awaiting me , and merely questioning, why can this not be performed via Teams or Zoom?
Jonathan Taylor