US fugitive: Extradition countdown set in motion

THE United States of America has submitted a request for the extradition of former software company executive Jacob ‘Kobi’ Alexander to Namibia’s Ministry of Justice.

The extradition request was received by the Justice Ministry on Friday, Dennis Khama, a senior official in the Ministry responsible for extradition matters, told The Namibian yesterday. NEXT STEP As a next step in the process, the Minister of Justice will forward the US request to the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court, where a hearing will have to be held by a Magistrate to determine whether Alexander should be returned to the US, Khama said.The 54-year-old Alexander is set to appear in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court in Katutura today so that a date can be set for the start of the extradition hearing, Khama added.Alexander was arrested on September 27 at a house that he bought at the Windhoek Country Club Estate after arriving in Namibia in late July.His arrest was carried out at the request of the US Embassy in Windhoek, which in turn based that request on two warrants for Alexander’s arrest that were issued in the US in July and September.In terms of Namibia’s Extradition Act, an extradition request has to be filed within 30 days after the sort of provisional arrest that Alexander went through.The 30-day limit in his case would have passed by the end of this week.Alexander has been free on bail of N$10 million since October 3.He spent six days in Police custody before he was granted bail.Alexander is an Israeli citizen who had been living in New York before he came to Namibia some three months ago.He had been the Chief Executive Officer of Comverse Technology Inc, a New York-based, stock exchange-listed company that is a leading maker of voicemail computer software, until he resigned that post on May 1.The US authorities want him to be returned to the US in order to prosecute him on 32 charges, which include counts of fraud and money laundering.The charges are based on allegations that while he was in charge of Comverse, Alexander was involved in an allegedly illegal scheme in which he reaped millions of US dollars in profits through the backdating of options that he was granted to buy shares in the company.It is alleged that the options that he had received as part of his pay package as the company’s CEO were backdated to dates when the company’s stock was trading at lower prices than on the dates when the options were actually granted to him.In changing the date of the options, Alexander allegedly succeeded in exercising the options at a later date by buying the shares at the lower prices at which the shares were trading on the backdated dates.In the process, it is alleged, he pocketed illegal profits amounting to some US$6,4 million (about N$48 million) through the claimed backdating scheme.At the same time, Alexander made an overall profit of some US$138 million (about N$1,035 billion) from his selling of Comverse stock, it is also alleged.Except for accusing him of corporate fraud and money laundering in a New York court, the US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York is also asking the court to order the forfeiture of Alexander’s assets to the value of US$138 million.Authorities in the US have already seized US$45 million from two investment accounts that were held in Alexander’s name in the US, the US Department of Justice claimed in a press statement in early August.Since coming to Namibia, Alexander has transferred some N$120 million of his money from Israel to Namibia, the court which heard his application to be granted bail was informed at the beginning of October.In addition to 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 court was also informed.NEXT STEP As a next step in the process, the Minister of Justice will forward the US request to the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court, where a hearing will have to be held by a Magistrate to determine whether Alexander should be returned to the US, Khama said.The 54-year-old Alexander is set to appear in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court in Katutura today so that a date can be set for the start of the extradition hearing, Khama added.Alexander was arrested on September 27 at a house that he bought at the Windhoek Country Club Estate after arriving in Namibia in late July.His arrest was carried out at the request of the US Embassy in Windhoek, which in turn based that request on two warrants for Alexander’s arrest that were issued in the US in July and September. In terms of Namibia’s Extradition Act, an extradition request has to be filed within 30 days after the sort of provisional arrest that Alexander went through.The 30-day limit in his case would have passed by the end of this week.Alexander has been free on bail of N$10 million since October 3.He spent six days in Police custody before he was granted bail.Alexander is an Israeli citizen who had been living in New York before he came to Namibia some three months ago.He had been the Chief Executive Officer of Comverse Technology Inc, a New York-based, stock exchange-listed company that is a leading maker of voicemail computer software, until he resigned that post on May 1.The US authorities want him to be returned to the US in order to prosecute him on 32 charges, which include counts of fraud and money laundering.The charges are based on allegations that while he was in charge of Comverse, Alexander was involved in an allegedly illegal scheme in which he reaped millions of US dollars in profits through the backdating of options that he was granted to buy shares in the company.It is alleged that the options that he had received as part of his pay package as the company’s CEO were backdated to dates when the company’s stock was trading at lower prices than on the dates when the options were actually granted to him.In changing the date of the options, Alexander allegedly succeeded in exercising the options at a later date by buying the shares at the lower prices at which the shares were trading on the backdated dates.In the process, it is alleged, he pocketed illegal profits amounting to some US$6,4 million (about N$48 million) through the claimed backdating scheme.At the same time, Alexander made an overall profit of some US$138 million (about N$1,035 billion) from his selling of Comverse stock, it is also alleged.Except for accusing him of corporate fraud and money laundering in a New York court, the US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York is also asking the court to order the forfeiture of Alexander’s assets to the value of US$138 million.Authorities in the US have already seized US$45 million from two investment accounts that were held in Alexander’s name in the US, the US Department of Justice claimed in a press statement in early August.Since coming to Namibia, Alexander has transferred some N$120 million of his money from Israel to Namibia, the court which heard his application to be granted bail was informed at the beginning of October.In addition to 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 court was also informed.