Last update - 00:00 23/10/2006
U.S. formally asks Namibia to extradite Alexander
By Yossi Melman and Shiri Ben-Tov, Haaretz Correspondents
The U.S. embassy in Namibia on Monday formally submitted a 600-page application for the extradition of Israeli businessman Kobi Alexander.
The application details violations allegedly committed by Alexander since his indictment a few months ago, including trying to bribe another Comverse executive to take the fall for him.
According to Namibian law, the judicial office will request a hearing date from the Windhoek Magistrate Court judge.
U.S. authorities are also looking into reports that published by Ma'ariv that Alexander's wife Hanna has filed divorce papers, which would prevent the confiscation of Alexander's property.
Even if the magistrate's court decides to extradite Alexander, he is expected to appeal, lengthening the trial process.
Eric Benjaminson, deputy chief of the U.S. mission in Windhoek, told The Marker that the extradition request was filed last Friday.
According to Benjaminson, if all goes as planned, the Namibian authorities, who support the extradition of Alexander, will schedule a preliminary hearing as soon as possible.
Benjaminson, who is the U.S. embassy official responsible for extradition requests, said he believes there are currently three options.
First, Alexander may choose not to contest the extradition order, and would return to New York to stand trial.
Second, Alexander could oppose the order, which could lead to legal proceedings that Benjaminson says "could take between one hour and five year."
The third option is Alexander will be held in police custody for the duration of the legal battle over the extradition application, meaning his release on bail from the beginning of October would be cancelled.
The first option seems the least likely, given that Alexander arrived in Namibia in July with the intention of investing and living there, and even obtained a two-year work permit.
Alexander entered the country with his wife and three children, who have already begun studying in the international school in Windhoek. He purchased a multimillion-dollar house and invested over 100 million Namibian dollars (over USD 14 million). He has also applied for Namibian citizenship.
The second option, which would envolve extradition hearings that could take several years, seems most likely.
In a similar case, German citizen Hans Koch, who has been in Namibian jail for four years, is still appealing his extradition order. Koch fled to Namibia after suspected of tax evasion and fraud in Germany.
"The Namibians refused to release Koch on bail, but released Alexander even though he arrived in Namibia a short time before his arrest," Benjaminson said.
He added that the U.S. is very pleased with Namibian cooperation in the Alexander affair.
Alexander was arrested on September 26 in Windhoek at the request of the FBI after a two-month manhunt. On October 3, he was released on USD 1.4 million bail, the highest sum ever paid in Namibia for bail.
Alexander faces 32 counts of alleged fraud related to stock options, as well as the recently-added charge of attempting to bribe.
Two other former Comverse employees, former finance chief David Kreinberg and former senior general counsel William Sorin, also surrendered in August and were released on USD one million bond each.
The three men are accused of making stock options more lucrative by backdating their exercise price to a low point in the stock's value. Usually, a stock option's exercise price coincides with the market value at the time of a grant to give the recipient an incentive to drive the price higher.
Prosecutors allege Kreinberg and Sorin earned about $1 million each on backdated options.
Comverse also allegedly awarded thousands of stock options to fictional employees, then secretly transferred the awards to an internal account under the name I.M. Fanton, which stood for "phantom," court papers said. The scheme allowed Alexander to award those options to real "favored employees" and to himself without approval from Comverse's board of directors, the papers added.