BERLIN, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Frankfurt Higher Regional Court has rejected an extradition request by Britain for four former Deutsche Bank employees, the Frankfurt State Prosecution Office told the press on Friday.
Britain had requested the extraditions in connection to the widely-publicized "LIBOR" and "EURIBOR" scandals. Several financial institutions with operations in London, including Deutsche Bank, were revealed to have allegedly illegally manipulated these referential inter-bank interest rates which influence the cost at which credit is provided to lending customers.
However, state prosecutor Alexander Badle revealed on Friday that German judicial authorities were statute-barred from delivering the four suspects to Britain due to the length of time that had passed since their alleged involvement in the scandal.
The British Serious Fraud Office issued a European arrest warrant in 2016 after the four ex-Deutsche Bank employees did not appear at a court hearing at the London Southwark Crown Court. The bankers were charged with conspiracy to fraud for influencing the setting of the Euribor rate to their advantage between 2005 and 2009.
As a consequence of the manipulation scandal, Deutsche Bank has been forced to pay fines worth 2.5 billion U.S. dollars so far.