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Austria grants US request to extradite Ukrainian mogul Dmytro Firtash Austria grants US request to extradite Ukrainian businessman Dmytro Firtash
(about 1 hour later)
An Austrian court has granted a US request to extradite Ukrainian mogul Dmytro Firtash over bribery allegations. An Austrian court has approved the extradition of the Ukrainian businessman Dmytro Firtash to the US in a bribery case, overturning an earlier ruling that had said the US request was politically motivated.
On Tuesday, the court in Vienna overturned a previous Austrian court decision to reject the extradition request on the grounds that it was politically motivated. Firtash denies the US bribery allegations. He is a former supporter of Ukraine’s ousted president, Viktor Yanukovich, and made a fortune selling Russian gas to the Kiev government.
“The [appeal against the previous decision] has been granted,” the judge told the court, which was packed with journalists and Firtash’s family. “This does not mean that somebody is being pre-judged as guilty, but rather that it will be decided in another country whether they are guilty or innocent.” “[The appeal against the previous ruling] has been granted,” the judge told a courtroom packed with journalists and Firtash’s family. “This does not mean that somebody is being prejudged as guilty, but rather that it will be decided in another country whether they are guilty or innocent.”
Firtash is a former supporter of Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Moscow Ukrainian president who was ousted in 2014. The mogul, who made a fortune selling Russian gas to the Ukrainian government, denies the US allegations. The judge said that since the previous Austrian court ruling, the US had offered further documents, based on witness statements, to strengthen its case against Firtash.
He was indicted in Chicago by a US grand jury in 2012 for allegedly paying millions of dollars in bribes to Indian officials through US banks in a failed attempt to secure titanium mining rights in India. A US grand jury indicted Firtash in 2013, along with a member of India’s parliament and four others, on suspicion of bribing Indian government officials to gain access to minerals used to make titanium-based products.
Arrested a year later in Vienna, Firtash posted bail of €125m (more than £106m) shortly afterwards, leaving him free but unable to leave Austria. Speaking before Tuesday’s verdict, Firtash’s lawyer, Dieter Böhmdorfer, reiterated the accusation that the US was driven by politics in the case.
“We must not allow Austria to become a stooge for the political world power the USA,” Böhmdorfer told the court, adding that Firtash was a victim of a US strategy to minimise Russian influence in Ukraine.
Washington welcomed the ousting of the pro-Russian Yanukovich amid mass street protests in February 2014 and has backed his pro-western successor, Petro Poroshenko. Yanukovich now lives in exile in Russia.
The Austrian judge dismissed Böhmdorfer’s charge and said Firtash would get a fair trial in the US.
Firtash, whose business concerns in gas trading and chemicals thrived under Yanukovich, has not returned to Ukraine since his initial detention in Vienna in March 2014.
His star has waned under the current administration partly due to his exile, but Firtash retains influence thanks to his part-ownership of Inter, a top Ukrainian television channel, and his gas distribution and fertiliser businesses.
He is Ukraine’s 16th richest man, with an estimated wealth of $251m (£202m) as of 2016, according to Forbes Ukraine.