SA man to be extradited for US trial
A GAUTENG man who had am arrest warrant issued against him in the US in 2011 for alleged financial irregularities involving more than R1 million, is to be extradited to face trial there.
This follows the decision by Judges P Coppin and TD Vilakazi in the South Gauteng High Court that the extradition process against Ismail Usman Patel cannot be delayed any further.
Patel was sought by US prosecuting authorities for the alleged crimes committed there in 2005 and 2007.
The judges had dismissed his appeal in which he claimed the decision of a Gauteng magistrate to extradite him was flawed.
The court heard that the US embassy in Pretoria in March 2011 had addressed a diplomatic note to the relevant authorities in South Africa for Patel to be extradited. It said Patel was sought to face trial in a district court in California.
David Warner, the associate director, international affairs, in the US Department of Justice, and Peter Axelrod of the state attorney’s office in California, had motivated for the extradition.
“Certificates outlining the case against Patel were given to the South African government. The US wants to prosecute Patel for financial crimes associated with banking regulations. If convicted, the offences are punishable by a jail sentence of more than one year. The equivalent charge in South Africa is contravention of the Financial Intelligence Act 38 of 2001,” said Judge Coppin.
According to the judgment, the extradition treaty between South Africa and the US was ratified on November 9, 2000.
“In its preamble the treaty expresses the need for more effective co-operation between the two countries in the fight against crime and for that purpose to conclude a new treaty for the extradition of offenders. Article 2 (1) provides that an offence shall be extraditable and if convicted the person would be deprived of his or her liberty for more than a year.
“Section 2 of the Act provides that the president may enter into an agreement with a foreign state for the surrender on a reciprocal basis of persons accused or convicted of a commission of a crime in a state or in South Africa of an extraditable offence specified in the agreement,” said Judge Coppin.
The judge agreed with counsel for the State that according to Section 231 of the Constitution an international agreement becomes law in South Africa when it is enacted into law by Parliament.
“This means that the courts must adopt an interpretation of the law and the treaty which is not obstructive to the implementation of the treaty.
A request for extradition is not a request for transfer of jurisdiction nor a request for a trial but a request to assist the appropriate jurisdiction (that of the requesting state) in rendering its justice,” said Judge Coppin.