The prosecutor in the high-profile extradition case of Lyford Cay resident Viktor Kozeny wrapped up his submissions on Thursday as he sought to convince the judge to have the Czech-born financier extradited to the United States to face bribery and money laundering charges.
U.S. authorities allege that Kozeny bribed officials of the former Soviet Republic, Azerbaijan, in an attempt to gain an advantage during the privatization of the state-owned Oil Company.
On Thursday, prosecutor Francis Cumberbatch highlighted portions of various affidavits from Kozeny’s alleged co-conspirators.
Mr. Cumberbatch submitted that those documents prove that Kozeny was indeed involved in conspiracy, bribery and money laundering.
The U.S. alleges that Kozeny committed the offenses between 1997 and 1999 contrary to that country’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Up to 1998, the Act did not have a provision that would impact foreigners. But it was amended that year.
The amended law provides that foreigners who act as agents for American companies in committing nefarious practices could feel the full brunt of the law.
Mr. Cumberbatch submitted that the crimes that the U.S. has charged Kozeny with are also offenses in The Bahamas, which he believes further strengthens his argument in support of extradition.
He said that bearing in mind that the court in which the matter is being heard is not a trial court, the prosecution believes that there is more than enough evidence that would warrant Kozeny being extradited to the United States.
However, defense attorney Clive Nichols argued otherwise, saying that the defense maintains its position that none of the offenses for which his client is charged is an extradition offense. He said that he intends to respond to several points raised by the prosecution.
Mr. Nichols believes that the new Authority To Proceed (ATP) is flawed because there is no basis for the charges which it outlines. The ATP was issued by Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell and gives permission for the magistrate to proceed with the extradition hearing.
It outlines the various offenses that a requesting state, in this case the United States, is making.
The extradition hearing resumes today.
Kozeny, Frederic Bourke Jr. and David Pinkerton were charged with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which makes it a crime to offer to pay, or to pay, foreign government officials in order to obtain or retain business.
As mentioned, the defendants are also charged with related crimes, including money laundering.
U.S. officials allege that this particular crime came about as a result of wire transfers of millions of dollars to purchase Azeri vouchers and options, which in turn promoted violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
The indictment further alleges that, beginning in August 1997 and continuing until 1999, Kozeny, Bourke and Pinkerton and others paid or caused to be paid millions of dollars worth of bribes to Azeri government officials to ensure that their investment consortium would gain a controlling interest in SOCAR, the state owned oil company, and be able to reap huge profits from its ultimate resale in the market.
Kozeny, who is originally from the Czech Republic but has Irish and Venezuelan citizenships, was arrested by Bahamian law enforcement authorities in October 6 pursuant to a provisional arrest request made by the U.S. government.
He is still being housed in the Maximum Security Unit at Her Majesty’s Prison.
By: Stephen Gay, The Bahama Journal
