Sibusiso Ngalwa and Karyn Maughan
5 July 2009
Police have not yet acted on 52 extraditions, including Brett Kebble murder accused John Stratton.
Yet they seem to have made moves to extradite a nurse accused of stealing medical records of former health minister Manto Tshabala-Msimang.
Stratton is living in Australia and has refused to return to answer questions regarding the mining magnate's murder charge.
Stratton had launched, and lost, an urgent application at the Pretoria High Court in 2007 pre-empting any attempt by the National Prosecuting Authority to seek his extradition.
But the NPA is yet to apply for Stratton's extradition.
"We are of the view that it would be inappropriate to comment on whether or not the NPA has initiated extradition process. Our attitude towards John Stratton remains unchanged. We still would like to see him standing trial as co-accused in the Brett Kebble murder. This matter is receiving delicate attention," was the NPA's response to the question.
Another wanted fugitive is multi-millionaire businessman Billy Rautenbach, who faces 326 charges for theft, 58 for fraud, two for corruption, two for conspiracy to commit fraud and one for reckless trading allegedly committed while he headed the South African arm of the Hyundai Motor Corporation.
He skipped South Africa in 1999 after a warrant for his arrest was issued.
On the Tshabalala-Msimang matter, police claim they are yet to apply for the South African nurse's extradition from New Zealand as they are still "studying" the docket.
However, Weekend Argus was authoritatively informed that police and the prosecuting authority decided to push for an extradition process.
It is understood that the NPA is uneasy about moving on the extradition of the nurse given that it had yet to proceed with the more serious Stratton case.
This is after the Weekend Argus report last month, and opposition parties raising questions about wasting resources on the nurse's case.
Another hurdle for South African authorities with the New Zealand case is the fact that the two countries have no extradition treaty.
But police spokeswoman Tummi Golding said that it was possible to extradite even if there was no treaty in place.
"Even if there's no signed treaty we do lodge an application if we want somebody to be extradited and then the other country looks at the merits of the case and decides. There are many countries we don't have signed treaties with. They check and realise that somebody committed a crime and they do extradite. No country wants to keep someone who has been declared a criminal," said Golding.
The nurse is accused of stealing and leaking to the media Tshabalala-Msimang's medical records related to the former minister's admission at the Cape Town Medi-Clinic for a shoulder operation in 2005.
Newspaper reports detailed how Tshabalala-Msimang had allegedly abused alcohol while in hospital.
She later received a liver transplant - allegedly due to alcoholism - while her officials claimed otherwise.
Golding told Weekend Argus yesterday that Interpol SA has just received the case docket from the Western Cape organised crime unit and has not decided whether to extradite or not.
It is understood that the nurse has refused to return to the country voluntarily.
Outstanding extraditions also include the cases of alleged child pornography distributor Jonathan Ells and alleged stem cell fraudsters Lauren Brown and Stephen van Rooyen.
Last month the NPA said it was working closely with "other stakeholders that include the Department of Justice as well as Interpol" on the two cases.
The NPA also said that there were 52 extradition requests outstanding.
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