The District Court of California has dealt a blow to the Scorpions’ attempts to extradite the alleged criminal mastermind behind the Fidentia fraud, Steve Goodwin, to South Africa.
Judge Oswald Parada ruled last week that Goodwin cannot be extradited until South Africa’s Constitutional Court has made a finding on whether the extradition treaty between the United States and South Africa has legal standing.
The Constitutional Court will hear argument from Goodwin’s legal team on August 26 and judgement may not be handed down before the end of the year.
Goodwin — suspected of stealing between R93-million and R120-million by facilitating fraudulent business dealings between Fidentia chief executive J Arthur Brown and Ovation Global Investments chief executive Angus Cruickshank — was arrested in the US in April and is in custody in Los Angeles.
The Scorpions want him to stand trial on 140 charges involving about R1,4-billion.
Goodwin’s lawyers went to the Constitutional Court after two Pretoria judges gave conflicting judgements on the status of the US-South African extradition treaty last month. They maintain that the treaty is invalid because, inter alia, the president did not sign it.
One of the charges against Goodwin relates to his and Brown’s alleged defrauding of the Transport Education and Training Authority of R101-million.
He will also be charged with stealing a total of R93-million from the Living Hands Trust set up to assist mineworkers’ widows.
Goodwin fled South Africa in February last year, three days after the Scorpions began their investigation into the collapse of Fidentia.
The Mail & Guardian has learned that Goodwin has offered to testify against Brown in exchange for a reduced prison sentence. He faces a minimum 15-year jail term.