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It has all the hallmarks of a Hollywood thriller: a New Zealander on the run from Scotland Yard after masterminding a conspiracy to steal billions of pounds from the Bank of England.
But last week, the British Government gave up on its bid to extradite Tauranga businessman Bryan
Walter Archer, 60, who was accused of conspiracy to defraud $75 billion from the bank.
Authorities have given no reasons for withdrawing the extradition warrant, but charges against Archer's six co-accused were dismissed by a British trial judge, then quashed by three others when the police appealed against the decision.
Now the father of four plans to seek compensation for his substantial legal bill and six months of hardship since learning British police wanted to extradite him - including a three-week stretch in prison.
"Yesterday was the first day I woke up since this happened and I was in control of my life," he said last night.
"I feel like I'm in quicksand. I've stopped sinking but I've got to get out and clean myself up."
The "saga", as Archer calls it, began in 2006 when he was approached by a business contact to help a Chinese family redeem hundreds of British bank notes, each with a face value of £500,000.
The notes were allegedly issued by the Bank of England during World War II as receipts for gold the Government borrowed from Chinese families.
Archer says he saw and handled 360 notes - a total of £180 million in 1943 currency - but the Bank of England says no such notes exist.
With international contacts as the director of Operation Good Samaritan and Dawn of Hope, Christian charities in the South Pacific, Archer says the family asked him to check the notes' authenticity and cash them if genuine.
Bank of England policy is that all old money is valid if genuine, but any forged notes are kept.
Archer organised a meeting for his six co-accused, an Australian lawyer and five Chinese men, in London.
What they thought were Bank of England officials were police officers from a newly formed undercover fraud squad.
The Southwark Six, as they were dubbed, were arrested and charged with conspiracy to defraud the bank of $75 billion and Archer, who stayed in New Zealand, was at the centre of an international manhunt.
He was arrested at his home last November 6 and an extradition warrant was issued in Britain on December 13.
Considered a flight risk because police alleged he had a Chinese passport - Archer says he doesn't - the 60-year-old spent three weeks in Waikeria Prison.
"A litany of lies for a trumped-up charge" is how Archer describes the evidence. The British trial of his co-accused was thrown out by the judge before the defence opened its case.
Defence lawyers labelled the Crown case "laughable" and "preposterous".
Police appealed against the ruling but were rebuffed by the Court of Appeal.
The Court of Appeal documents showed the three judges believed there was never a conspiracy to defraud, only a genuine attempt by Archer and his co-accused to verify the authenticity of the bank notes.
"The notion that these defendants would behave in so outlandish a way is, in our judgment, such that no jury, properly directed, could have convicted," the appeal judges wrote.
Even the assistant director of Britain's Fraud Prosecution Service, David Levy, wrote in an affidavit on behalf of police that the "only direct evidence" of dealings between Archer and the Bank of England "pointed to an attempt to realise the face value of the notes".
Although a tale about stockpiles of bank notes inherited from members of China's pre-communist Government more than 60 years ago seems outlandish, Archer believed the notes were genuine, not forgeries.
The 60-year-old cried "tears of relief" when the extradition warrant was withdrawn on Thursday. He looks forward to rebuilding his life. That has already begun, with steps to claim compensation and legal costs for his mounting lawyers' bills.
"How can you compensate a man who was wrongly accused? Mud sticks and my reputation has been destroyed. Money can't fix that," he said.
