1 Dec 2008

US authorities reject Samoa Minister's plea to be allowed to return to Samoa while on bail

8:11 pm on 1 December 2008

United States prosecutors have opposed Samoa MP Hans Joachim Keil's motion to be allowed to leave the US to reside in Samoa while his court case is pending.

Mr Keil's US lawyer, John Kizer, had asked the federal court in Missouri to modify his bond conditions to allow him to leave the US while his case is pending.

Mr Keil, who is Samoa's Associate Minister of Commerce, Labor and Industry, is facing one count of falsely and wilfully representing himself to be a US citizen and one count of wilfully and knowingly using and attempting to use a US passport.

He is out on bail after posting a ten thousand US dollar bond but travel is restricted to within the Western Missouri jurisdiction.

Federal prosecutors say they oppose the defence request, pointing out that the US has no extradition treaty with Samoa and therefore no legal mechanism to compel the defendant's return to Springfield for his case.