European Court of Justice paves way for the extradition of Ukrainian tycoon Firtash to USA
According to the decision of the European Court of Justice, the Supreme Court of Austria may continue the consideration of the case of the Ukrainian businessman Dmytro Firtash.
"The court decided today that the relevant Austrian regulations are compatible with the EU legislation. This means that, since the EU laws are adhered to in this case, the Supreme Court of Justice in Austria does not have to call for new hearings in the case of the people involved and, as a result, the Austrian authorities may continue their operations with regard to the crimes, which are suspected to have been committed in Switzerland," reported TSN, quoting the press secretary of the European Court of Justice.
After this decision, the process of Firtash’s extradition to the US will most likely start.
The EU Court of Justice in Luxemburg planned to make a decision on October 24 on the request of May 4, 2017. The Supreme Court of Justice in Austria is waiting for this decision to pass a verdict on Firtash’s appeal against his extradition to the US.
Firtash, the chairman of the board of Group DF, was arrested in Austria on March 12, 2014 at the request of US authorities issued in 2013. The Ukrainian businessman was accused of using bribes with a total amount of $18 million to obtain a permission to extract titanium in India and sell the finished products in the USA.
The Regional Criminal Court of Vienna made a decision of an extradition arrest for Firtash. Later, however, the Court agreed to release him on bail of EUR 125 million and banned him from leaving Austria.
In February 2017, the Higher Regional Court of Vienna authorized the extradition of Firtash to the USA. However, the warrant of the Spanish side caused a delay. According to the law, if there are two parallel requests for extradition from different countries, the Minister of Justice is supposed to decide which country to extradite the suspect to. At the same time, the decision of the minister should follow court decision on extradition.