Bond responsible for delay?

2003-02-26 14:01

Pretoria - A decision by arrested British tourist Derek Bond to waive his right to a South African identity hearing appears to have contributed to a time lapse of nearly three weeks before his innocence could be proven.

The 72-year-old was arrested on a United States warrant while on holiday in KwaZulu-Natal on February 6.

Investigators initially believed he was the same Derek Bond (alias Derek Sykes) wanted in the US on fraud charges involving $4.6m. He maintained throughout this was a case of mistaken identity.

He is expected to be released from Durban police custody later in the day after a man believed to be the real culprit was arrested in Nevada in the US on Tuesday night.

US embassy spokesperson DeAngela Burns-Wallace said Bond filed an affidavit on February 10 agreeing to an extradition order issued against him, and waiving his right to a bail application and identity hearing.

As a result, steps were initiated for his extradition - which could only happen once a surrender order had been signed by the South African justice department. This was done on February 21.

In the meantime, however, investigators received information on February 20 which brought into question whether Bond was the right man.

Despite the fact that he waived his right to an identity hearing, investigators obtained photographs in a bid to confirm his identity, Burns-Wallace said. Normally, this process would have started only after his arrival in the US.

Bond earlier told Radio Four's Today programme he was only questioned by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday.

"I have been cleared to leave South Africa. The deportation order was signed by the minister a week ago to release me to America and the Americans have not taken up that option yet.

"That is where the anxiety of the last week has been - what is happening?

"The FBI, which issued this warrant three weeks ago, to arrest me, didn't interview me until yesterday." Burns-Wallace said investigators would have questioned Bond as soon as he arrived in the US.

"When Mr Bond in effect agreed to the order of extradition and waived his identity hearing in South Africa, the next step for us was to prepare for his extradition.

"We followed the process as outlined in the extradition treaty between South Africa and the United States." Bond's family said he agreed to the extradition and waived his right to an identity hearing in order to clear his name as quickly as possible.

But Stephen Jakobi, director of Fair Trials Abroad, said: "He can only have agreed to be extradited on advice.

"I hope his MP presses for an inquiry to find out what the Foreign Office was doing, why it took so long to be cleared up and who advised him to agree to be extradited."

He added: "It seems quite extraordinary that it could not have been cleared up in 24 or 48 hours." South African police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Mary Martins-Engelbrecht said official confirmation of the latest developments was received shortly before 11:00.

"We received a formal request from the US authorities via Interpol to release him, and we are working on finalising that - hopefully by today." British high commission spokesman Nick Sheppard said that Bond was expected to be freed before 14:00.

"We are very pleased to hear he is being released," he said. "We will be talking to him about what he wants to do next." Bond welcomed his release, but added cautiously in an interview with the BBC: "It will be very welcome news when that's confirmed.

"It will be really good news. I've had so many false hopes that I hope this is the right one." According to the British Press Association, the US Attorney's office apologised for the blunder. Official John Lewis said: "We got the wrong man." He added the man arrested on Tuesday had been using Bond's identity since 1989.

Bond wife's Audrey expressed delight at his pending release, telling GMTV: "I can't tell you. It's absolutely marvellous." His youngest son Richard said he was "delighted" at the news but expressed concern over the FBI investigation.

"We are very delighted but won't be fully satisfied until he gets home...I don't know what's going on with the FBI. The story that we are hearing is very odd. There are issues that we should all be very concerned about," the Press Association reported.

On Tuesday, the British High Commission in South Africa criticised American investigators for taking so long to determine whether Bond was indeed the wanted man.

- SAPA