Court unfreezes Kobi’s accounts

THE High Court this week ordered two Namibian banks to lift the restrictions that had been placed on the bank accounts of Jacob ‘Kobi’ Alexander, the Israeli-born millionaire businessman who has set up residence in Windhoek while fighting a request from the United States government for his extradition to the US.

Two accounts that Alexander has with Standard Bank Namibia and with Bank Windhoek have been frozen since early October, Alexander informed the High Court in an affidavit forming the backbone of an urgent application against the two banks The outcome of the case was that Judge Elton Hoff ordered the two banks to unfreeze Alexander’s accounts. The banks were ordered to allow Alexander to again withdraw funds from his accounts if he wanted to do so.The court further ordered the banks not to operate Alexander’s accounts except on his instructions or on an order from the High Court.Alexander is free on a record N$10 million bail pending the start of an extradition hearing, now set to begin on April 25 next year, that would determine whether Namibia should hand him over to the US authorities, who want him to face some three dozen criminal charges in a New York court.Alexander (54) is accused of having committed stock-market fraud in the time that he was the Chief Executive Officer of a stock exchange-listed, New York-based communications systems and software company, Comverse Technology Inc.It is alleged that he and some senior colleagues at Comverse made large profits through trading in Comverse shares that they had received as part of their executive earnings at the company.It is however claimed that they illegally manipulated the dates on which shares in the company were allocated to them, choosing dates when the share price was at temporary lows, in order to increase their profits when they later sold the shares at the higher market prices that prevailed then.Alexander alone, it is claimed, made an illegal profit of about US$6,4 million (around N$48 million) through this alleged backdating of options to buy Comverse shares.That is only a relatively minor part of the total profits of some US$138 million (about N$1,035 billion) that are alleged to have padded his wallet through his selling of Comverse shares that were granted to him.Except for wanting to put him on trial on 35 charges, which include counts of fraud, money laundering, attempted bribery and filing false financial statements with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York is also asking the US court in which he is charged to issue an order for the forfeiture of assets of Alexander to the value of US$138 million, rather than only the US$6,4 million that he is alleged to have illegally pocketed.Since coming to Namibia in late July, Alexander has transferred some N$120 million of his money from his native Israel to Namibia, the court which heard his bail application was informed at the beginning of October.Except for paying N$3,8 million for a house that he bought in Windhoek, Alexander has also invested some N$11 million in local business partnerships, which include property development plans in which he is in partnership with former Namibia Defence Force Brigadier Mathias Shiwedha, the current head of the state-owned military hardware manufacturer, Windhoeker Maschinenfabrik, that court was also informed.In this week’s urgent application, Alexander informed the High Court that Standard Bank and Bank Windhoek informed him in early August that his accounts with those banks had been frozen on October 3 on instructions from the Bank of Namibia.The central bank later informed him that this was done under the Exchange Control Regulations.The Bank of Namibia also asked him to provide the bank with documentary evidence confirming the origin and source of the money in his two accounts.After an exchange of correspondence between his lawyers and the Bank of Namibia, the bank informed his lawyer, Richard Metcalfe, in a letter on November 30 that the bank’s order for the freezing of his accounts had been lifted again, Alexander stated.However, when he tried to operate the two accounts again last week, he was informed that there was a “court order” prohibiting the two commercial banks from executing his instructions.He later established that these were two search warrants that had been authorised by a Windhoek Magistrate on November 15.These warrants supposedly authorised the Police to have the bank accounts frozen.These warrants were defective, since they were not properly filled out, should not have been signed by the Magistrate, and were issued without him having been given a fair chance to be heard first, Alexander claimed in his affidavit.Alexander informed the court that he needed to get access to the accounts because he might need to deposit a further N$5 million in bail money in order to relax the conditions under which he was released from Police custody in early October.He specifically needs to have the restriction that prohibits him from leaving the Windhoek district lifted, since he has interests in “substantial projects relating to housing in the west coast of Namibia” and he needs to attend to these, he stated.He also needs the money to cover the legal costs of the preparations for his extradition hearing in April, and to “afford my family and myself dignified living conditions”, Alexander stated.He did not reveal how much money was in the accounts.Raymond Heathcote, instructed by Metcalfe Legal Practitioners, brought the urgent application on Alexander’s behalf.The banks were ordered to allow Alexander to again withdraw funds from his accounts if he wanted to do so.The court further ordered the banks not to operate Alexander’s accounts except on his instructions or on an order from the High Court. Alexander is free on a record N$10 million bail pending the start of an extradition hearing, now set to begin on April 25 next year, that would determine whether Namibia should hand him over to the US authorities, who want him to face some three dozen criminal charges in a New York court.Alexander (54) is accused of having committed stock-market fraud in the time that he was the Chief Executive Officer of a stock exchange-listed, New York-based communications systems and software company, Comverse Technology Inc.It is alleged that he and some senior colleagues at Comverse made large profits through trading in Comverse shares that they had received as part of their executive earnings at the company.It is however claimed that they illegally manipulated the dates on which shares in the company were allocated to them, choosing dates when the share price was at temporary lows, in order to increase their profits when they later sold the shares at the higher market prices that prevailed then.Alexander alone, it is claimed, made an illegal profit of about US$6,4 million (around N$48 million) through this alleged backdating of options to buy Comverse shares.That is only a relatively minor part of the total profits of some US$138 million (about N$1,035 billion) that are alleged to have padded his wallet through his selling of Comverse shares that were granted to him.Except for wanting to put him on trial on 35 charges, which include counts of fraud, money laundering, attempted bribery and filing false financial statements with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York is also asking the US court in which he is charged to issue an order for the forfeiture of assets of Alexander to the value of US$138 million, rather than only the US$6,4 million that he is alleged to have illegally pocketed.Since coming to Namibia in late July, Alexander has transferred some N$120 million of his money from his native Israel to Namibia, the court which heard his bail application was informed at the beginning of October.Except for paying N$3,8 million for a house that he bought in Windhoek, Alexander has also invested some N$11 million in local business partnerships, which include property development plans in which he is in partnership with former Namibia
Defence Force Brigadier Mathias Shiwedha, the current head of the state-owned military hardware manufacturer, Windhoeker Maschinenfabrik, that court was also informed.In this week’s urgent application, Alexander informed the High Court that Standard Bank and Bank Windhoek informed him in early August that his accounts with those banks had been frozen on October 3 on instructions from the Bank of Namibia.The central bank later informed him that this was done under the Exchange Control Regulations.The Bank of Namibia also asked him to provide the bank with documentary evidence confirming the origin and source of the money in his two accounts.After an exchange of correspondence between his lawyers and the Bank of Namibia, the bank informed his lawyer, Richard Metcalfe, in a letter on November 30 that the bank’s order for the freezing of his accounts had been lifted again, Alexander stated.However, when he tried to operate the two accounts again last week, he was informed that there was a “court order” prohibiting the two commercial banks from executing his instructions.He later established that these were two search warrants that had been authorised by a Windhoek Magistrate on November 15.These warrants supposedly authorised the Police to have the bank accounts frozen.These warrants were defective, since they were not properly filled out, should not have been signed by the Magistrate, and were issued without him having been given a fair chance to be heard first, Alexander claimed in his affidavit.Alexander informed the court that he needed to get access to the accounts because he might need to deposit a further N$5 million in bail money in order to relax the conditions under which he was released from Police custody in early October.He specifically needs to have the restriction that prohibits him from leaving the Windhoek district lifted, since he has interests in “substantial projects relating to housing in the west coast of Namibia” and he needs to attend to these, he stated.He also needs the money to cover the legal costs of the preparations for his extradition hearing in April, and to “afford my family and myself dignified living conditions”, Alexander stated.He did not reveal how much money was in the accounts.Raymond Heathcote, instructed by Metcalfe Legal Practitioners, brought the urgent application on Alexander’s behalf.