Vienna (AFP) – An Austrian appeals court on Tuesday authorised the extradition to the United States of Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash on bribery charges, in a shock decision overturning an earlier ruling.
Firtash, 51, one of Ukraine’s richest men and previously an ally of ousted president Viktor Yanukovych, was arrested in Austria in March 2014.
The gas magnate was freed 10 days later on bail of 125 million euros ($130 million), a record for Austria, but has had to stay in the country until the appeal ruling.
US authorities want him extradited to face charges that he and five others paid $18.5 million in bribes to Indian officials to secure titanium mining licences in Andrah Pradesh state in 2006.
They argue that US laws applied because the conspiracy involved using US financial institutions, travel to and from the United States, and use of US-based communications — computers, telephones, and the Internet.
Firtash has rejected all charges and maintained they are politically motivated.
His legal team argued that he was caught up in a larger battle over the future of Ukraine, where the government has been engaged in bloody fighting with Russian-backed separatists in the east since 2014.
Last April a judge in a lower court in Vienna sided with the mogul and rejected the US extradition request on the basis that the demand was “politically influenced”.
The latest ruling came as a shock to Firtash who had said he would “return home immediately” after the verdict, in comments made shortly before the decision.
“I want justice,” he had told reporters in the packed courtroom in Vienna.
The ruling is cannot be appealed, but the final decision to hand Firtash over to US authorities lies with the Austrian justice minister.
Firtash owns Group DF, a business empire involved in energy, chemicals, media, banking and property in Ukraine and other countries including Germany, Italy and Austria.
He made his fortune importing gas to Ukraine from Russia and Central Asia via his group Rosukrenergo, since disbanded, in collaboration with Russian gas giant Gazprom.
Having backed the 2010 election campaign of Yanukovych, Firtash was able to expand his business interests, acquiring chemicals and fertiliser factories as well as TV channel Inter.
The Russian-backed Yanukovych was ousted in protests in February 2014, and Firtash’s arrest in Austria came soon afterwards, although officials deny any link.
In a further twist, Spanish authorities issued an international arrest warrant in November 2016 against a powerful Ukrainian oligarch, identified by media as Firtash.
Press reports said he was accused of close links to organised crime and laundering 10 million euros in Spain.
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