Koch’s appeal against extradition postponed

GERMAN fraud suspect Hans Juergen Koch appears set to spend his fourth successive Christmas in prison, after the hearing of his appeal against a High Court judgement that confirmed an extradition order was postponed to early next year.

Koch’s appeal against the High Court ruling that in July cleared the way for his extradition to Germany is now scheduled to be argued in the High Court on January 16 and 17 next year. The appeal had been set to be heard on Thursday, but had to be postponed when Koch’s legal team, led by Louis Botes and Rudi Cohrssen, claimed they had not been properly informed to prepare to also argue a preliminary point that Deputy Prosecutor-General Danie Small is planning to raise in the appeal.Small is set to argue that the Extradition Act gives someone who is the subject of an extradition request to Namibia the right to appeal only to the High Court, and no further.Koch wants to appeal to the Supreme Court in an attempt to avoid being returned to Germany, where he is facing 203 charges of fraud, 12 counts of tax evasion, and four charges of falsifying documents.He has been in custody in Namibia since October 14 2002.Koch (57) has been living in Namibia since December 1999.He owns an upmarket hunting farm, La Rochelle, northeast of Tsumeb.He is facing prosecution in Germany on charges that he had defrauded German local authorities through a financing scheme that he was running between 1987 and 1999.It is alleged that Koch diverted the equivalent of some N$110 million from the financing scheme, in which German municipalities were provided with loans and invested money with Koch’s financial services firm, into his own pockets.He is also accused of having failed to pay about N$24 million in taxes.The appeal had been set to be heard on Thursday, but had to be postponed when Koch’s legal team, led by Louis Botes and Rudi Cohrssen, claimed they had not been properly informed to prepare to also argue a preliminary point that Deputy Prosecutor-General Danie Small is planning to raise in the appeal.Small is set to argue that the Extradition Act gives someone who is the subject of an extradition request to Namibia the right to appeal only to the High Court, and no further.Koch wants to appeal to the Supreme Court in an attempt to avoid being returned to Germany, where he is facing 203 charges of fraud, 12 counts of tax evasion, and four charges of falsifying documents.He has been in custody in Namibia since October 14 2002.Koch (57) has been living in Namibia since December 1999.He owns an upmarket hunting farm, La Rochelle, northeast of Tsumeb.He is facing prosecution in Germany on charges that he had defrauded German local authorities through a financing scheme that he was running between 1987 and 1999.It is alleged that Koch diverted the equivalent of some N$110 million from the financing scheme, in which German municipalities were provided with loans and invested money with Koch’s financial services firm, into his own pockets.He is also accused of having failed to pay about N$24 million in taxes.