Kobi Alexander extradition hearing postponed – again

THE hearing that should determine whether Israeli-born extradition target Jacob (‘Kobi’) Alexander must be sent to the United States to stand trial on fraud and other charges was postponed once again in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

Alexander will have to make his next appearance before a Magistrate in Windhoek on November 12, he was informed yesterday when he made his sixth appearance before a Magistrate since his release on bail of N$10 million in early October last year. Alexander is wanted in the US on 35 criminal charges related to alleged fraud that he is claimed to have committed while he was the Chief Executive Officer of a New York-based publicly traded company that he had helped found in the early 1980s, Comverse Technology Inc, through the backdating of stock options that he received as part of his executive earnings at the company.Alexander has already stated that he is denying those charges and that he will contest them – if he is ever extradited to the US.Alexander’s extradition hearing had been set to start before Magistrate Sarel Jacobs in late April this year, but was postponed when Magistrate Jacobs was asked to recuse himself from conducting the hearing.The Chief of Lower Courts in the Ministry of Justice, Petrus Unengu, was thereafter appointed by the Minister of Justice to conduct the extradition hearing, but his appointment has drawn objections from Alexander’s lawyers, who on Friday filed a case with the High Court in which that court is being asked to rule on the legality of Unengu’s appointment as the Magistrate who has to conduct the hearing.The start of the extradition hearing was postponed again yesterday because that High Court case is now pending.According to Alexander’s legal team, only the Magistrate who first granted Alexander bail following his arrest in late September last year, Magistrate Uaatjo Uanivi, may in terms of Namibia’s Extradition Act proceed to conduct the hearing that should end in a ruling whether Alexander can be surrendered to the US authorities and on which charges he may be extradited.In the case filed with the High Court on Friday, Alexander is asking that court to declare that only Magistrate Uanivi may conduct his extradition hearing.In an alternative to that part of his application, he is also asking the court to declare that the Chief of Lower Courts may not lawfully conduct the enquiry under the Extradition Act, or to set aside the Magistrates’ Commission’s appointment of Unengu as a temporary Magistrate.One of the members of Alexander’s legal team, Cape Town senior counsel Peter Hodes, told Unengu at Alexander’s last appearance before a Magistrate on July 9 that their argument is that it would be unconstitutional to have an official in the Ministry of Justice, which the Chief of Lower Courts is, also acting as a Magistrate, as such a set-up would run counter to the principle of judicial independence.In addition to asking for the orders on the appointment of a Magistrate to conduct the extradition hearing, Alexander is also asking the High Court to declare the Extradition Act’s section 21 unconstitutional.In terms of that section of the Act, someone whose extradition is being sought has to be kept in prison, and cannot apply to be released on bail again, as soon as a Magistrate conducting an extradition hearing has found that the person may be extradited – even although appeal proceedings against that finding can thereafter take years to make their way through the High Court and up to the Supreme Court if necessary.Alexander is wanted in the US on 35 criminal charges related to alleged fraud that he is claimed to have committed while he was the Chief Executive Officer of a New York-based publicly traded company that he had helped found in the early 1980s, Comverse Technology Inc, through the backdating of stock options that he received as part of his executive earnings at the company.Alexander has already stated that he is denying those charges and that he will contest them – if he is ever extradited to the US.Alexander’s extradition hearing had been set to start before Magistrate Sarel Jacobs in late April this year, but was postponed when Magistrate Jacobs was asked to recuse himself from conducting the hearing.The Chief of Lower Courts in the Ministry of Justice, Petrus Unengu, was thereafter appointed by the Minister of Justice to conduct the extradition hearing, but his appointment has drawn objections from Alexander’s lawyers, who on Friday filed a case with the High Court in which that court is being asked to rule on the legality of Unengu’s appointment as the Magistrate who has to conduct the hearing.The start of the extradition hearing was postponed again yesterday because that High Court case is now pending.According to Alexander’s legal team, only the Magistrate who first granted Alexander bail following his arrest in late September last year, Magistrate Uaatjo Uanivi, may in terms of Namibia’s Extradition Act proceed to conduct the hearing that should end in a ruling whether Alexander can be surrendered to the US authorities and on which charges he may be extradited.In the case filed with the High Court on Friday, Alexander is asking that court to declare that only Magistrate Uanivi may conduct his extradition hearing.In an alternative to that part of his application, he is also asking the court to declare that the Chief of Lower Courts may not lawfully conduct the enquiry under the Extradition Act, or to set aside the Magistrates’ Commission’s appointment of Unengu as a temporary Magistrate.One of the members of Alexander’s legal team, Cape Town senior counsel Peter Hodes, told Unengu at Alexander’s last appearance before a Magistrate on July 9 that their argument is that it would be unconstitutional to have an official in the Ministry of Justice, which the Chief of Lower Courts is, also acting as a Magistrate, as such a set-up would run counter to the principle of judicial independence.In addition to asking for the orders on the appointment of a Magistrate to conduct the extradition hearing, Alexander is also asking the High Court to declare the Extradition Act’s section 21 unconstitutional.In terms of that section of the Act, someone whose extradition is being sought has to be kept in prison, and cannot apply to be released on bail again, as soon as a Magistrate conducting an extradition hearing has found that the person may be extradited – even although appeal proceedings against that finding can thereafter take years to make their way through the High Court and up to the Supreme Court if necessary.