Czech authorities decided at the last moment to try and have Irish financier of Czech origin Viktor Kozeny extradited from the Bahamas, the daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) writes today.
Deputy Justice Minister Roman Polasek and two members of the Prague state attorney’s office left for the Bahamas, where Kozeny has stayed for years, on Friday, MfD writes.
The United States has requested for Kozeny’s extradition on the charges of corruption and money laundering he allegedly committed during the privatisation of oil industry in Azerbaijan.
Kozeny, 43, who claims innocence, has been in custody in the Bahamas since October 5 last year.
The trial started in February when the prosecutor explained U.S. accusations and proposed that Kozeny be extradited to the United States.
However, Polasek is to try and persuade Bahamian authorities that they should extradite Kozeny to the Czech Republic, MfD writes.
“He wants to convince them that the Czech Republic had submitted the request for extradition before the US. Under international conventions, Czechs have priority,” a Justice Ministry official told the paper.
Polasek is scheduled to meet two senior officers in the Bahamas – Allyson Maynard-Gibson, Minister of Legal Affairs and General Prosecutor, and prosecutor Francis Cumberbatch who is in charge of the case.
This may be good news for Kozeny, MfD writes. If he is sentenced in the US, he may receive the life sentence, while in the Czech Republic he may receive a maximum 12-year sentence, it adds.
Kozeny has been wanted by the Czech Republic in connection with a fraud worth 13.6 billion crowns as former head of Harvardsky prumyslovy holding (HPH).
Source: CTK Czech News Agency
