Austria court approves U.S. request to extradite Firtash

Austria’s Supreme Court ruled on June 25 in favor of a
request by U.S. law enforcement authorities to extradite Ukrainian tycoon Dmytro
Firtash, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported that day. A final decision
will be made by Austria’s justice minister on whether to fulfill the request
for Firtash, who has been fighting his extradition since his 2014 arrest in
Vienna. Firtash is a suspect in criminal charges of foreign bribery and
racketeering in an alleged scheme to pay off Indian state officials to gain
access to minerals used to produce titanium supplies, which had been planned to
be sold to Boeing. The aircraft giant is not charged in the case, though it
said it considered doing business with Firtash but didn’t reach an agreement.
Firtash’s lawyers said the charges are baseless considered “he has never done
business in the U.S., never visited the U.S. and had no knowledge of any plan
to bribe Indian officials about an Indian titanium mine that never happened.”

Zenon Zawada: It seems
likely that Firtash will be extradited. Besides criminal prosecution, another
key aim of the extradition request is for U.S. authorities to gain more
information on Russia’s and Ukraine’s oligarchs from Firtash. And he will
certainly oblige these requests in order to gain a lighter sentence or reach a
plea deal. A criminal conviction would be disaster for Firtash’s business
prospects in Ukraine since it would leave his assets vulnerable to seizure,
whether by his business rivals or state prosecutors seeking to recover them. A
conviction would also make him “untouchable” for most international
businessmen. So we expect Firtash to make efforts to avoid this outcome. And a
conviction would leave him vulnerable to criminal charges in Ukraine should law
enforcement begin to function normally in the coming years (as President
Zelensky has vowed to do).

What’s also interesting about Firtash’s saga is how it
will affect Ihor Kolomoisky, another magnate with a large stake in the
Ukrainian economy. Kolomoisky is reported to be the target of an FBI
investigation into his Ohio-based businesses for money laundering. It’s widely
believed that he moved his residency from Switzerland to Israel in September
2018 out of concern that he would also be extradited for questioning by U.S.
law enforcement. We can’t rule out the possibility that U.S. authorities will
relax pressure on Kolomoisky if he allows President Zelensky, whose campaign he
sponsored, to pursue an aggressive U.S./IMF-backed political agenda in Ukraine.
That’s incentive enough for Kolomoisky to “behave properly” following
his May return to Ukraine.