 |
| ABOUT US | PRACTICE GROUPS | LOCATIONS | CONTACTS |
|
January 30, 2006 USA WILL MANAGE TO GET KOZENY BACK FROM BAHAMAS - PRESS DUBLIN, Jan 30 (CTK) - The USA will achieve its aim and get Viktor Kozeny, Irish citizen of Czech origin, extradited from the Bahamas to the USA for a corruption trial, the internet issue of the daily Irish Examiner says today, citing Douglas McNabb, a leading U.S. expert in extradition law. At its hearing today the court in the Bahamian capital Nassau is to decide whether to meet the U.S. request and extradite Kozeny. The USA is seeking the extradition of Kozeny in relation to a $182 million fraud linked to an oil company in Azerbaijan. Under U.S. President George Bush "the USA has been extremely aggressive about prosecuting crimes that involve violations of U.S. law in foreign countries. I think it's just a matter of time before they get him back," McNabb told Irish Examiner. The paper says the Bahamians signed an extradition treaty with the USA that went into effect in 1994. It says that Kozeny is also wanted in the Czech Republic on suspicion of swindling 332 million euros from then inexperienced Czech investors in the early 1990s. "The Czech government has repeatedly petitioned the Bahamas to respect a pre-World War II extradition treaty signed between Czechoslovakia and Britain, by which Bahamas was then governed. However, the Bahamians have treated the Czechs like unwelcome suitors," the paper writes. Commenting on this, Dublin attorney Remy Farrell says: "Look at the map, look at the politics, look at the money. Who do you think the Bahamians are going to listen to, the Czechs or the Americans?" The Irish government is considering ways to cope with cases like Kozeny, who received Irish citizenship within Ireland's investment-for-passport scheme, that ran in 1989-2004 and was used by about 190 people. "Give us your slightly nervous wealthy who want an escape route" - this is how Farrell describes the scheme policy. "It is embarrassing, he hurts our reputation," an unnamed source from the Irish government is quoted as saying, referring to Kozeny. However, it would be difficult to revoke Kozeny's Irish citizenship, Irish Examiner continues. One loophole may lie in the fact Kozeny has applied for Bahamian citizenship, it says. "I've asked my officials to examine the case," it quotes Irish Justice Minister Michael McDowell as saying. | |