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August 18, 2006 Interpol brought in to trace missing Comverse chief Changes to US-Israeli extradition treaty due to the 'war on terror' could lessen the chances of escaping the law. By KEVIN ALLISON US authorities will not say whether they think Jacob Alexander, the former chief executive of Comverse Technol-ogy, has fled to Israel to escape arrest on charges of securities fraud. But both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the US Marshals have asked Interpol to help bring Mr Alexander to justice. The businessman, who holds joint US-Israeli citizenship, is alleged to have stashed Dollars 57m in an Israeli bank account weeks before he and two other former executives were charged with fraud for an alleged options backdating scheme at Comverse, one of the world's biggest makers of voicemail software. While David Kreinberg, Comverse's former chief financial officer, and William Sorin, former general counsel, have surrendered to FBI agents, as of last night, Mr Alexander's whereabouts remained a mystery. If it is true that he has holed up in Israel to avoid arrest, he is likely betting that his home country will live up to its reputation for stubbornness when it comes to efforts to extradite its citizens to face trial abroad. "Courts in Israel have taken the position that they're going to make it difficult to extradite someone who is an Israeli national," says Douglas McNabb, a Washington-based attorney whose firm handles extradition cases around the world. In one of the most notorious cases, a teenager named Samuel Sheinbein fled to Israel in 1997 after the gruesome murder of a teenage acquaintance. Mr Sheinbein successfully fought extradition to the US, claiming citizenship because his father held an Israeli passport. He later pleaded guilty in an Israeli court, where sentencing guidelines called for a more lenient sentence than he might have received in the US. Others have not been so lucky. Meyer Lansky, the underworld mastermind whose mafia exploits in-spired the plot of The Godfather Part II, famously "retired" to Israel in the 1970s and refused to return to the US to face tax evasion charges. But Mr Lansky's attempts to claim Israeili citizenship failed. After a two-year legal battle, Israel's highest court ruled that Mr Lansky was not eligible for citizenship because he represented a threat to public safety. He was eventually expelled, and tried unsuccessfully to seek refuge in South America before he was arrested and sent to a US prison. In 1994, Eddie Antar - known throughout northeastern US as "Crazy Eddie" - the founder of an eponymous elec-tronics store chain - was returned to the US five years after he fled to Israel to avoid corporate fraud charges. He had been living in Israel under a false name. Mr McNabb, the extradition defence expert, says those living on the lam are set to come under increased pressure thanks to changes to the US-Israeli extradition treaty approved by the US Senate this month. The amendments, which will apply retroactively once approved by George W. Bush, broaden the list of crimes that qualify for extradition requests. "The 'war on terror' has led to a loosening of extradition requirements," says Mr McNabb. Citing the recent British move to hand over three former NatWest bankers to face trial in the US for alleged embezzlement, he says the practical result has been an increase in requests for the extradition of white- collar criminals. In this day and age "the general feeling is that if a person is placed in extradition proceedings they are going to lose and be sent back", he said. In the meantime, Mr Barcella says Mr Alexander's absence could work in his fellow co-defendant's favour, allowing them to place blame for the scandal on the shoulders of their missing boss. | |