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March 15, 2006 KOZENY'S EXTRADITION TRIAL TO CONTINUE ON APRIL 5 Nassau/New York, March 15 (CTK) - The presentation of legal arguments in the trial of financier Viktor Kozeny, who is of the Czech extraction, over his extradition from the Bahamas to the USA will continue on April 5, Bahamian Prosecutor Francis Cumberbatch told CTK today. This is the only result of the Tuesday hearing of the Bahamian court in the case of Kozeny. The new proceedings are planned for April 7, Cumberbatch said, adding that he did not expect any major decision at the close of the series of proceedings. 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. The defence then claimed that the U.S. request does not meet law conditions, mainly because it accuses Kozeny of offences that are not punishable either in the Bahamas nor in the Unites States. Kozeny's major argument rests in that the U.S. anti-corruption law (FCPA) did not apply to him at the time he allegedly committed the offence, Douglas McNabb, U.S. expert in extraditions abroad, said. However, the Bahamian state prosecutor has now attempted to propose evidence of something that has not been part of the indictment by the USA, namely that Kozeny continued bribing Azerbaijani representatives after 1998 as well, McNabb said. The United States extended the validity of the law, that had always applied to certain groups of foreigners only, to practically all foreigners in 1998. 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). ($1=24.101 crowns) pv/dr/vv | |