Federal Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor is refusing to give accused war criminal Charles Zentai a complete copy of advice he received prior to making his decision to extradite the 88-year-old to Hungary.

In the Federal Court in Perth today, lawyer Jeremy Allanson, representing the minister, argued that a summary of advice given to Mr O'Connor before his decision backing Mr Zentai's extradition was protected by legal professional privilege.

But Malcolm McCusker, representing Mr Zentai, submitted to the court that the document was not privileged. Mr McCusker said even if privilege applied, the protection had been waived.

Mr Zentai's extradition has been suspended pending the outcome of a Federal Court review of Mr O'Connor's decision, which upheld a full Federal Court ruling handed down in October last year ordering he be deported to Hungary. The review is scheduled to be held later this month.

Hungary has been trying to extradite Mr Zentai since 2005 over an allegation that he was involved in the fatal bashing of a Jewish teenager in Budapest in 1944 when he was in the Hungarian army.

Mr Zentai was placed in custody after handing himself into authorities in October. He was released on a $75,000 personal bond with a $75,000 surety just before Christmas to await the Federal Court review of the case.

Yesterday, Mr McCusker told the court that a summary of advice given to Mr O'Connor before he made his decision had been provided, but key parts of document had been blacked out. Mr McCusker said it was clearly important for Mr Zentai to be aware of the basis on which Mr O'Connor had made his decision, which it may be argued involved errors of law and fact.

Mr McCusker told the court that the statements proposed to be used in the case against Mr Zentai in Hungary were from witnesses who had died.

Justice McKerracher reserved his decision.

Outside court, Mr Zentai said he was finding the ongoing legal action "difficult".
Mr Zentai's son, Ernie Steiner, said it was difficult seeking a review of the decision without full access to the information on which it had been based.

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