Gillian Bond says her father could be extradited to the United States

Derek Bond is being held by police in Durban but his daughter Gillian says he has been "left to rot".

The 72-year-old grandfather from Clifton in Bristol was arrested as he arrived in the country for a wine tasting holiday with his wife.

It is thought the FBI believe he is a serial fraudster whose telemarketing scam cheated Americans out of millions of dollars.

But the businessman's daughter, from Norwich, Norfolk, who has just returned from visiting him in prison, said nothing had been done to help.

Attract attention

"Early on a friend of ours sent a fax to Jack Straw, but there has been absolutely no response at all.

"This is why we have gone for all the publicity - we want to attract the government's attention."

Gillian Bond, 46, from Norwich, says her father was released but later rearrested.

Mr Bond is said to be very depressed in prison

She said: "He was picked up originally a month ago then released, and carried on with the holiday, but he gave the police the itinerary for the rest of the trip.

"These are not exactly the actions of a guilty man to say where he is going to be for the next three weeks."

Ms Bond said her father had even agreed to be extradited to speed up the situation.

"He agreed to be extradited weeks ago but was just left there.

"The FBI did not read the faxes sent to them by our lawyer - they assumed he had agreed to it because he was guilty."

She said the slow pace of the investigation was beginning to upset her father.

"He is getting very depressed by the inaction of the FBI - he has basically been left to rot in a South African jail.

Decision due

And she said the FBI still had not explained the reason he was being held: "We don't understand what's going on because they won't disclose the facts.

"It is very difficult to counter what they are saying, to give them the proof that he is innocent when we don't really know what he is supposed to have done.

"But the impression I had yesterday was that they were beginning to have their doubts."

She said the family were hopeful the FBI would soon decide what to do with her father.

"He is a 72-year-old man on holiday with his wife who has suddenly been picked up and told he's on the '10 Most Wanted' list - it is just surreal.

"We are under the impression some kind of decision is going to be made in the next few days - either he is going to be released or he will be extradited to America."