The China Mail - Austrian court rejects Ukraine tycoon's US extradition

An ex-ally of Ukraine's ousted pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych, Firtash made his fortune importing gas to Ukraine from Russia and Central Asia in collaboration with Russian gas giant Gazprom.

He is already the target of British and Ukrainian sanctions.

Firtash is wanted in the United States on charges that he paid bribes to officials in India to secure titanium mining licences in 2006.

The 60-year-old has denied all wrongdoing, arguing that the charges brought against him are politically motivated.

Vienna's Higher Regional Court said in a statement it had decided on December 9 to dismiss as "inadmissible" the latest appeal by prosecutors against a court's ruling from 2024 that said Firtash could not be extradited.

It added that its decision was "legally binding" and therefore final.

- Long court battle -

Firtash's Group DF business empire has also been involved in energy, chemicals, media, banking and property in Ukraine and other countries including Germany, Italy and Austria.

Since 2014, Firtash has been unable to leave Austria due to an international arrest warrant issued by the United States.

The United States' extradition request "was related to the payment of bribes amounting to tens of millions of euros for mining licences in a mineral extraction project in India," the Vienna court said in its statement.

In 2015, an Austrian court rejected Firtash's extradition. But an appeals court in 2017 ruled he could be extradited to the United States, a decision a top court upheld in 2019.

Firtash then requested that proceedings be reopened and submitted new documents and testimony, which eventually led to the case being reopened.

A Vienna court finally declared Firtash's extradition not permissible in 2024, a ruling prosecutors sought to appeal, but failed to meet the deadline.

- British, Ukrainian sanctions -

In 2024, the United Kingdom sanctioned the tycoon, accusing him of having "extracted hundreds of millions of pounds from Ukraine through corruption and his control of gas distribution and has hidden tens of millions of pounds of ill-gotten gains in the UK property market alone".

He was also sanctioned in June 2021 by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for selling titanium products to Russian military companies.

K.Lam--ThChM