German fugitive Jurgen Harksen has applied to the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein for leave to appeal against an earlier ruling paving the way for his extradition to Germany.
An initial appeal failed in the Cape High Court in July after Justice Minister Penuell Maduna signed Harksen’s extradition order on April 19.
Harksen is currently being held in the Goodwood prison in Cape Town and faces fraud charges in both Germany and South Africa. He is applying for leave to appeal against the extradition order on the grounds that he cannot be tried in Germany. According to Harksen, time has run out for his case to be brought before the courts in terms of German law.
He also maintains in his latest application that he originally consented to his extradition before the Cape High Court when he was ”in a state of extreme stress and psychological depression for which he had been hospitalised”.
The State, represented by Advocate Jasper Coetzee Tredoux, is opposing Harksen’s application for leave to appeal.
In his opposing documents, Tredoux argues that a German court should be allowed to decide whether Harksen could be tried. Tredoux also says that an earlier appeal, which was postponed, was ”solely intended to frustrate and delay the extradition process”.
Harksen has been involved in extradition proceedings since 1994, Tredoux says.
Cape High Court Judge Jeanette Traverso, who dismissed Harksen’s earlier appeal against extradition, referred to the German fugitive’s ”continued attempts to thwart our legal system”.
National Directorate of Public Prosecutions representative Sipho Ngwema said on Monday that Harksen’s extradition to Germany was considered more important than the fraud charges he faced in South Africa. The extradition proceedings, Ngwema said, began long before Harksen was charged for fraud in South Africa.
Harksen’s latest application will be heard by two appeals court judges shortly after November 1 when the court reopens.
Earlier on Monday, Harksen briefly appeared in the Cape Town Regional Court to apply for bail in connection with the South African fraud charges. The case was postponed to Tuesday. – Sapa