Thirteen people arrested four weeks ago in connection with an alleged international cybercurrency fraud scheme have failed with an attempt to get an urgent court order for their release.
Since the case in which the 13 are charged has been sent from the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court to the High Court to be reviewed, it is more appropriate to let the review procedure run its course than to now order that they should be released from custody, judge George Coleman indicated in a judgement delivered in the Windhoek High Court yesterday.
Coleman dismissed an urgent application filed by the 13 accused at the start of last week, and ordered that they should pay the legal costs of the respondents cited by them in the matter, including the police, the prosecutor general and the divisional magistrate of Windhoek.
Coleman noted in his judgement that the 13 applicants are being detained under warrants of detention issued by a magistrate of the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court, where they made a first appearance in court on 6 October.
In the urgent application they filed, they did not directly challenge the warrants of detention under which they are being held in custody, Coleman also observed.
The 13 applicants were asking the court to declare that their detention is unlawful and inconsistent with the Constitution, because they did not appear in court within 48 hours after their arrests, to order that they should be released from custody, and to order that they should return to the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on a warning from the court for future appearances in their case.
They claimed they were arrested in Windhoek during the evening of 3 October, and appeared in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court for the first time on 6 October – which was more than 48 hours after their arrests.
According to the 13 applicants, the length of time they were held in custody before their first court appearance was a violation of the Constitution’s stipulation that an arrested person should be brought before the nearest magistrate or judicial officer within 48 hours after being arrested.
However, the police informed the High Court that the 13 applicants were arrested on 4 October, and that in terms of the Criminal Procedure Act the 48 hours within which they had to appear in court would have expired only at 16h00 on 6 October, Coleman recorded in his judgement.
The charges against the 14 accused, who are alleged to have operated an international cryptocurrency investment scam in which Namibians were employed, include 98 counts of trafficking in persons, 98 charges of using the services of victims of trafficking, one count of fraud involving an amount of US$465 405 (about N$8,7 million) and charges of money laundering, racketeering and failing to pay tax.
The 14 accused in the matter are Namibian citizens Toivo Herman, Tango Muulyau and Mdanda Mamelodi Domingo, Chinese nationals Fan Jia, Guo Linzie, Zheng Haifeng, Li Zirian, Shi Zi Jun, Lin Shu Lin, Chen Wuyu, Neng Jun Wu, Wu Weiyang and Chen You Yi, and a Cuban citizen, Carlos Alejandro Batista Valdes.
Their case in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court has been postponed to 7 November, to await the outcome of the High Court review.
The 13 applicants in the case heard by Coleman were represented by lawyers Sisa Namandje and Gilroy Kasper.
James Diedericks and Sylvia Kahengombe represented the respondents.
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