Wednesday, August 08, 2007

The Fix Is In: 911 Knowledgeable Jacob 'Kobi' Alexander getting eased out of justice system

Namibia: Kobi's Bail Conditions Eased

ISRAELI extradition target Jacob 'Kobi' Alexander won another round in the High Court in Windhoek yesterday with the easing of a restriction that has kept him confined to the Windhoek district for the past 10 months.

Alexander will now be allowed to leave the Windhoek district as long as he gives 24 hours' notice to Police Inspector Rudolph Mbumba, who heads Interpol's office in Namibia.

This is in terms of an order given by Judge Elton Hoff yesterday after a day-long hearing on an application from Alexander for his bail conditions to be altered or scrapped altogether.

Alexander, who is the target of an extradition request that the government of the United States of America submitted to its Namibian counterpart in late October last year, also tasted success in the High Court in December last year, when he was granted an order that ended the freezing of two bank accounts that he has in Namibia.

Alexander has been confined to the Windhoek district since being released on bail of N$10 million on October 3 last year following his provisional arrest while the U.S. extradition request was being finalised.

One of his bail conditions was that he had to get permission from Inspector Mbumba if he wanted to travel out of the district.

Attempts to get this permission have however been unsuccessful.

After his latest bid to get Mbumba's permission to leave the Windhoek district in order to visit Walvis Bay was met with a refusal from the Inspector General of the Namibian Police early in July, Alexander lodged the application in the High Court from which he emerged as the victor yesterday.

In the case that was argued before Judge Hoff, Alexander informed the court that he was investing millions of Namibia dollars in housing development projects at Walvis Bay.

He needed to travel to the harbour town for site inspection meetings connected to these projects today and tomorrow, Alexander informed the court.

Alexander's application, in which he cited Mbumba, the Inspector General, the Minister of Justice and the Prosecutor General as respondents, was opposed.

One of the grounds for the opposition was that the risk of Alexander absconding from Namibia would increase if he was allowed to visit the coast.

One of Alexander's lawyers, Cape Town senior counsel Peter Hodes, derided this claimed concern as "absurd" during yesterday's hearing.

In Windhoek, Alexander lives only about 200 metres from Eros Airport, Hodes noted - but this seems not to be a reason for the authorities to fear that Alexander might try to flee from Namibia while the extradition proceedings against him are pending.

Alexander in any event knows that if he leaves Namibia he will be arrested elsewhere, as Interpol has issued a worldwide "red notice" alert on him, the lawyer added.

Hodes also took aim at claims that the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration, Samuel Goagoseb, made in an affidavit filed with the court about the circumstances under which Alexander was granted a two-year work permit in Namibia near the end of August last year.

Goagoseb informed the court that the Minister of Home Affairs and Immigration would "shortly" conduct an investigation on a suspicion that Alexander had received his work permit on the basis of misrepresentations that he had made to the Immigration Selection Board.

In his application for permanent residence in Namibia, Alexander failed to mention that he had been resident in the U.S. during the past ten years, and also failed to provide a police certificate from the U.S. to show that he has a clean criminal record in that country, Goagoseb stated.

He charged that Alexander had "deliberately and purposively misrepresented" to the Ministry and the Board that he was a resident of Israel.

Had the Board known the true state of affairs, according to Goagoseb, a work permit would never have been granted to Alexander.

Another of Alexander's lawyers, Richard Metcalfe, however pointed out in another affidavit that documentation in the Ministry's own file on Alexander's applications for permits allowing him to stay and work in Namibia clearly showed that Alexander had stated in a résumé submitted to the Ministry that he had residential addresses in both Israel and New York City.

No fewer than seven copies of this curriculum vitae were found on the Ministry's file, Metcalfe added.

He also stated that on Alexander's application for a work permit, Alexander gave clear information that he had been employed as the Chief Executive Officer of Comverse Technology Inc in New York City from 1982 to 2006 - showing that Alexander in fact did provide information on the time he had spent in the U.S., Metcalfe stated.

Hodes in any event argued that a request from the Home Affairs Minister to be allowed to intervene as an interested party in the application should be dismissed, as the Minister does not have any direct interest in the issue of Alexander's bail conditions.

Judge Hoff appears to have agreed with Hodes's arguments.

He dismissed the Minister's application to intervene.

He also ordered the respondents, who were represented by Deputy Government Attorney Nixon Marcus, to pay Alexander's legal costs in the case.

Alexander is wanted in the U.S. on 35 charges related to allegations of fraud that he is claimed to have been committed while he was the CEO of Comverse Technology Inc.

He is denying the charges, and will be contesting them if he is extradited, Alexander has stated.

Original article posted here
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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

No surprise there. We know there is no way he would have been brought back here to face charges, which would have led to him testifying about knowledge of 911 ...so cheney,bushie,and Israel are safe for now. But, one day.............