Date set for hearing on US fugitive’s extradition

THE extradition hearing that should determine whether Namibia will surrender Israeli high-tech industry pioneer Jacob ‘Kobi’ Alexander to the United States justice system is set to take place in April.

Alexander (54) made a brief appearance before Magistrate Sarel Jacobs in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court yesterday morning to be informed that the hearing will start on April 25, with the two days after that date also set aside for it. The Israeli-born Alexander, who lived in New York before he became a fugitive from US justice in late July, remains free on bail of N$10 million.He was arrested in Windhoek, where he had bought a house since coming to Namibia in late July, on September 27.That was after the US government asked its Namibian counterpart to issue a warrant for Alexander’s provisional arrest while the US finalised a formal extradition request based on 32 criminal charges in a New York court.The US’s extradition request was delivered to Namibia’s Justice Ministry on October 20.By then, the charges that Alexander would face if he is extradited, had increased to 35.Alexander is accused of committing stock-market fraud in the time that he was the Chief Executive Officer of a New York-based communications systems and software company, Comverse Technology Inc, which he had helped found in 1984 and helped build into an industry leader now worth more than four billion US dollars.Alexander alone, it is claimed, made an illegal profit of about US$6,4 million (around N$48 million).Alexander was initially charged together with two fellow former senior figures in the Comverse hierarchy: the company’s former Chief Financial Officer, David Kreinberg, and the former company attorney, William Sorin.Both Kreinberg and Sorin have in the meantime pleaded guilty to charges related to the alleged illegal stock options scheme.Kreinberg is also reported to have agreed to co-operate with the US authorities in their prosecution of Alexander.Sorin pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiracy to commit fraud on November 2, the office of the US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, which is conducting the prosecution against Alexander and his two former colleagues, has further announced.”I deeply regret my conduct,” he was reported as saying in court when he pleaded guilty.”Because of my respect for Mr Alexander as CEO and my belief of his importance to the success of the company, I did the wrong thing.”Since coming to Namibia, Alexander has transferred some N$120 million of his money from Israel to Namibia, Windhoek Magistrate Uaatjo Uanivi, who heard Alexander’s application to be granted bail, was informed at the beginning of October.Except for paying N$3,8 million for the 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 and former Namibia Defence Force Brigadier Mathias Shiwedha are in a partnership, the Magistrate was also informed.The Israeli-born Alexander, who lived in New York before he became a fugitive from US justice in late July, remains free on bail of N$10 million.He was arrested in Windhoek, where he had bought a house since coming to Namibia in late July, on September 27.That was after the US government asked its Namibian counterpart to issue a warrant for Alexander’s provisional arrest while the US finalised a formal extradition request based on 32 criminal charges in a New York court.The US’s extradition request was delivered to Namibia’s Justice Ministry on October 20.By then, the charges that Alexander would face if he is extradited, had increased to 35.Alexander is accused of committing stock-market fraud in the time that he was the Chief Executive Officer of a New York-based communications systems and software company, Comverse Technology Inc, which he had helped found in 1984 and helped build into an industry leader now worth more than four billion US dollars.Alexander alone, it is claimed, made an illegal profit of about US$6,4 million (around N$48 million).Alexander was initially charged together with two fellow former senior figures in the Comverse hierarchy: the company’s former Chief Financial Officer, David Kreinberg, and the former company attorney, William Sorin.Both Kreinberg and Sorin have in the meantime pleaded guilty to charges related to the alleged illegal stock options scheme.Kreinberg is also reported to have agreed to co-operate with the US authorities in their prosecution of Alexander.Sorin pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiracy to commit fraud on November 2, the office of the US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, which is conducting the prosecution against Alexander and his two former colleagues, has further announced.”I deeply regret my conduct,” he was reported as saying in court when he pleaded guilty.”Because of my respect for Mr Alexander as CEO and my belief of his importance to the success of the company, I did the wrong thing.”Since coming to Namibia, Alexander has transferred some N$120 million of his money from Israel to Namibia, Windhoek Magistrate Uaatjo Uanivi, who heard Alexander’s application to be granted bail, was informed at the beginning of October.Except for paying N$3,8 million for the 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 and former Namibia Defence Force Brigadier Mathias Shiwedha are in a partnership, the Magistrate was also informed.