Three British oil executives are set to plead guilty today over alleged roles in a price-fixing cartel in a US case that could set a crucial precedent for extradition and prosecution of other British white-collar workers in America.

The US Department of Justice has agreed that the three men will be returned straight away to London, where they would plead guilty in what would be the first British criminal prosecution of a cartel by the Office of Fair Trading. Earlier this month Bryan Allison, David Brammar and Peter Whittle were each charged with one count of conspiracy to rig bids, fix prices and allocate market share in marine hose products. They are due in court in Houston today and could be extradited as early as next week.

Mr Allison and Mr Brammar work for Dunlop Oil & Marine, a division of Germany’s Continental, while Mr Whittle is an independent consultant.

It is thought that the case could have major implications for international criminal law enforcement and to inquiries currently under way in America into British companies such as BAE and British Airways.

Michael O’Kane, a lawyer with Peters & Peters, which is representing Mr Allison and Mr Brammar, said that such a deal had been possible because the defendants had cooperated with the authorities. He said: “Never has it happened before that businessmen have been able to plead guilty in the US, serve no jail time there and return to their domestic jurisdiction in order to plead guilty and serve a sentence.”

They would serve their jail time in Britain, as long as the sentence imposed by the British courts is at least equal to the one that the US authorities are expected to set out in the coming days. If it is not, the US authorities reserve the right to demand the men’s return to America.

Each faces a maximum penalty of ten years in prison and a $1 million (£484,000) fine.

The case comes after the NatWest Three were charged and sentenced in America. David Bermingham, Gary Mulgrew and Giles Darby were last month ordered to serve three years and one month in jail, and to pay $7.3 million to Royal Bank of Scotland, the victim of the fraud.

It is understood that one condition of the NatWest Three’s guilty plea was a promise that they could serve most of their sentence in a UK jail. The trio had always argued that if they had a case to answer, it should be heard in a UK court, a point that won much support from the British business community.

The three oil executives are among eight foreign businessmen arrested in the US in May for allegedly conspiring to suppress competition within the American market for marine hoses.

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