goodwin to test law on extradition  
16 April 2008

Goodwin, former Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown and accountant Graham Maddock are accused of being behind the corporate looting that left investors out of pocket to the tune of nearly R1bn. Some of the funds were intended for the widows and orphans of mineworkers.

Goodwin, who fled to Australia days after Fidentia was placed under curatorship in February last year and has so far escaped prosecution, has challenged his April 5 arrest in a Los Angeles court on the grounds that Pretoria Judge Ferdi Preller had ruled that there was no extradition agreement with the US.
The US court has refused Goodwin bail. He was arrested at Los Angeles airport after US authorities acted on an alert issued by Interpol. An arrest warrant was issued for Goodwin in SA last year.

The home affairs department yesterday remained adamant that in terms of SA’s Extradition Act, the government could extradite people in the absence of a treaty if certain requirements were met. Preller’s ruling is on appeal and is to be heard in the Constitutional Court. Judgment is expected this week.
There is concern that the judgment, which was delayed for nine months, may affect SA’s efforts to extradite a number of people, including John Stratton, who is linked to the killing of mining magnate Brett Kebble.

Preller ruled last month that Cape Town businessman Stephen van Rooyen and his wife, Laura Brown, who are on the FBI’s most-wanted list for selling untested stem cell treatments to dying patients, could not be extradited to the US because Parliament had failed to enact into law SA’s extradition agreement with the US. The couple argue the agreement is unconstitutional and invalid.   The US Extradition Agreement, like all such agreements, was published in the Government Gazette, as required by the act. Whether it was a “proper” enactment is in dispute.

National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Tlali Tlali said yesterday that Goodwin’s legal team had argued that his arrest was illegal, since it was undertaken only in order to extradite him to SA to stand trial. Since there was no agreement between the countries, Goodwin’s arrest was invalid.  “He is relying on the recent Pretoria High Court judgment for his defence in the US.”

Stratton is also relying on the Preller judgment to have the extradition agreement between SA and Australia declared invalid to avoid returning to SA to stand trial with fellow murder accused Glenn Agliotti.   Goodwin’s arrest warrant, issued last July for charges including theft, fraud and corruption running into millions of rands, related to an investment in Fidentia of about R250m made by the Transport Sector Education and Training Authority.

In August last year, the Scorpions arrested the suspended chief executive of the authority, Piet Bothma, for conspiring to steal more than R200m.

Chantelle Benjamin, www.businessday.co.za