The Constitutional Court, in a landmark judgement, has ruled the national executive has the right to file extradition applications for accused in foreign states and not the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
The court delivered its judgement on Friday, two months after hearing the NPA’s appeal seeking to overturn Free State High Court judge Phillip Loubser’s ruling, which found that the extradition of Ace Magashule’s former personal assistant, Moroadi Cholota, from the US was unlawful.
The high court ruling saw Cholota walking free from prosecution in a R255m asbestos tender corruption case. The tender was awarded to businessperson Edwin Sodi.
Loubser pinned his judgement on the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) order, which found the justice minister was the only person who had the power to make an extradition request to the US in the case of SA fugitive Johnathan Schultz, who faced theft charges and lives in the US.
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