/ 30 September 1999

HARKSEN WINS STAY

FUGITIVE German billionaire Jurgen Harksen on Wednesday won a stay of extradition, possibly for a year, when the Cape High Court ruled that a fresh magistrate should rule on his suitability for extradition, SABC television reported. Harksen, who is wanted by the German authorities on fraud and tax evasion charges involving more than R1-billion, has been fighting his extradition since 1994. In February this year, he was arrested and jailed after a magistrate ruled he should be extradited to Germany. The court ruled on Wednesday that the extradition application should be heard afresh by another magistrate after it found irregularities in court proceedings in the first hearing. The procedure may take up to a year.