VIENNA, Austria — Ukrainian billionaire oligarch Dmytro Firtash received a double shock on Feb. 21.
First, an Austrian judge at the Vienna Court of Appeal ruled to allow his extradition to the United States to face bribery charges in Chicago.
Then the oligarch was arrested by plain-clothed Austrian police officers outside an elevator in the court hallway, seconds after leaving the courtroom. The day’s events came as a surprise to his supporters and critics alike, who had expected the judge to dismiss the appeal.
Austria’s Ministry of Justice must make the final decision regarding his extradition to the US. But it will be suspended until a decision is made regarding the Spanish request.
Firtash has been living in effective exile in the Austrian capital since he was arrested in March 2014 at the request of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation for allegedly trying to offer an $18.5 million bribe Indian officials for secure licenses into the titanium mining business in India. He was indicted in U.S. District Court in Chicago.
In November, Spain filed a separate extradition request in relation to a nearly $10 million money laundering case.
A judge from the Vienna Criminal Court decided on Feb. 23 to deny the public prosecutor’s request for custody in relation to the Spanish case. However, he remains in custody as the Vienna Public Prosecution Office has submitted a request to impose detention in relation to the pending U.S. extradition case. The Vienna Criminal Court will make a decision regarding the request of the public prosecutors on Feb. 24. There was no mention of bail. The statement read:
“Detention was not ordered because the assumed risk that the accused might try to abscond can be prevented by the fact, that he has to report to the court in regular intervals, is not allowed to leave Austrian territory and has to give his passport to the court. Still D. Firtash is in custody at the moment, as the Vienna Public Prosecution Office (Staatsanwaltschaft Wien) submitted an application to impose provisional detention pending extradition in the U.S. Extradition case again, on which the Vienna Regional Court for Criminal Matters (Landesgericht für Strafsachen Wien) will decide tomorrow in the afternoon.”
Nina Bussek, spokesperson for the Austrian Public Prosecutors Office, told the Kyiv Post that there will be an extradition trial to decide on the Spanish request at the Vienna Criminal Court.
The video recorded by Kyiv Post staff writer Isobel Koshiw, who attended the hearing on the U.S. request for extradition of Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash on bribery charges. The Austrian appeals court on Feb. 21 granted the U.S. request for extradition, overruling a lower court judge.
New information relating to the Spanish case was submitted on Feb. 17, Leo Levnaic-Iwanski, the Austrian judge in the U.S. extradition case, told the court. Notably, the judge chose to end his hour-long explanation of upholding the U.S. appeal by talking about the Spanish extradition request.
Levnaic-Iwanski said that he did not believe that the Spanish case was politically motivated or connected to the case in the United States against the oligarch.
The case concerns Firtash’s alleged connections to an organized crime group operating in Spain. Firtash’s lawyers said in a statement today that they believe the US is behind the Spanish case and is designed to keep Firtash in continued exile from Ukraine.
Firtash arrives pic.twitter.com/8cFfrP8opI
— Isobel Koshiw (@IKoshiw) February 21, 2017
When Firtash arrived at Vienna’s Court of Appeal with his wife Lada on Feb. 21 he seemed confident and jovial. The Austrian prosecutor representing the U.S. appeal to have the oligarch extradited appeared reluctant, read from handwritten notes, and spoke for less than five minutes.
The prosecutor was then followed by lengthy, individual defense speeches by five of Firtash’s elite lawyers, which lasted for nearly three hours.
Many viewed Firtash’s appearance as a reflection of his confidence that the U.S. appeal would be dismissed. As the court rejourned for the decision on the U.S. extradition, the result of the Spanish case seemed distant.
Upon hearing the court uphold the U.S. appeal, Firtash’s face flushed red and his eyes bulged. He looked physically shaken and fixated on every word spoken by the court interpreter. His six lawyers, one of which is the former deputy minister of justice in Austria, Dieter Böhmdorfer, appeared stunned and then proceeded to note down the judge’s explanation of the decision.
Levnaic-Iwanski said that despite the U.S. behaving strangely in the case, there was still sufficient evidence that the oligarch had attempted to bribe Indian officials as part of a deal to buy a titanium plant. In his explanation, the judge chose to emphasize the anti-corruption and cross-border organized crime treaties signed by Austria, the United States and Ukraine. He also noted that the U.S. had submitted new witness testimony on Feb. 16, days before the hearing.
“The High Court of Vienna does not consider the principle of the formal (U.S.) verification process incorrect,” the judge said. The documents provided by the prosecution, he said, gave “ample reason to believe that the accused is suspected of a crime.”
However, Levnaic-Iwanski also said that it was not Austria’s job to judge Firtash’s guilt or innocence of the U.S. criminal charges.
During the trial Firtash’s lawyers made a series of comments suggesting that American power was overreaching its boundaries. Böhmdorfe said that America does not care about human rights: “You know America first.” Levnaic-Iwanski addressed the comments of the former minister of justice directly in his decision, praising the independence of America’s justice system and referring to their decision to block U.S. President Donald Trump’s so-called Muslim ban.
CEO of Group DF, Borys Krasnyansky, stands up at the courthouse moments after Austrian police arrested his boss Dmytro Firtash on Feb. 21. (Isobel Koshiw)
Levnaic-Iwanski also said that “the question of to what extent the accused is connected to (alleged organized crime boss) Semion Mogilevich… did not bare weight in the proceedings.”
Firtash’s legal team told U.S. newspaper The Wall Street Journal that they were disappointed by the judge’s decision: “Mr. Firtash, a Ukrainian, is charged concerning a project in India that was never completed – a project entirely outside of the United States that had no effect on the United States, and in which the United States has no legitimate interest.”
His lawyers said they “will fight to obtain dismissal of this unjust case by the Department of Justice or, if necessary, in the U.S. courts, to clear Mr. Firtash’s name.”
“We will be taking all appropriate steps to appeal this decision – including, in Austria through an appeal to the supreme court, as well as in Europe to the European Court of Human Rights,” Reuters reported Boehmdorfer as saying.
Kyiv Post staff writers Veronika Melkozerova, and Josh Kovensky contributed to this article.
Head of Ukrainian TV channel Inter, Hanna Bezliudna, is in shock after her boss ,oligarch Dmytro Firtash, was arrested by Austrian police on Feb. 21. (Isobel Koshiw)
