Namibia hold fugitive, awaits US extradition move

WINDHOEK, Sep 29 (Reuters) Namibia will hold a fugitive software m+aker until US authorities file a formal extradition request for him to return to New York to face charges of manipulating stock options, Namibian officials said.

Jacob ''Kobi'' Alexander, former chief executive of voicemail-software maker Converse Technology Inc., was captured on Wednesday in the southwest African country after a two-month international manhunt.

Officials said Alexander, 54, an Israeli citizen and U.S.

permanent resident, had been living with his family in Windhoek.

Namibian authorities took him into custody after acting on information from the FBI.

He spent the night at the Windhoek Central Prison and officials said they expected him to apply for a bail.

''We will oppose the bail application,'' Namibian Deputy Prosecutor John Truter told Reuters yesterday, noting that Alexander was a rich businessman.

''If we release him on bail he could buy a plane and leave the country overnight.'' He said the Namibian government would hold Alexander for 30 days while waiting for American judicial authorities to produce a formal application for his extradition.

BACKDATING Alexander faces charges in Brooklyn alleging he hatched a scheme to pocket millions of dollars by secretly manipulating stock options.

Two other defendants, former Finance Chief David Kreinberg and former senior general counsel William Sorin, surrendered in August and were released on 1 million dollar (790,000) bond each.

The complaint unsealed in a US federal court accuses the three men of making stock options more lucrative by backdating their exercise price to a low point in the stock's value.

Usually, a stock option's exercise price coincides with the market value at the time of a grant to give the recipient an incentive to drive the price higher.

From 1991 through 2005, Alexander exercised options and sold stocks worth approximately 150 million dollars, making a 138 million dollar profit, according to the complaint.

Of that, about 6.4 million dollars was generated by backdating options, it said.

Before he disappeared, Alexander allegedly transferred 57 million dollars to Israel, fuelling speculation he may have fled there.

News reports in Israel speculated that he may have been hiding out in a small Sri Lankan fishing village.

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