Firtash refused voluntary extradition to the USA

Ukrainian oligarch Dmitry Firtash said during the consideration of his case on extradition to the United States that he refuses it on a voluntary basis. Reported a correspondent. Tass from the courtroom.

“No, I believe there is a political motivation for this,” he said, turning the floor over to his defense to further state their case.

In turn, the judge, outlining the course of the case, noted that initially the request for the arrest of Firtash from the US authorities was received in November 2013. However, it was canceled a few days later, as the US authorities informed at the end of 2013 about the year. Then, on February 27 of the year 2014, a new request of similar content was received, and on March 12 an arrest order was issued, which was made to the Vienna police on the same day. After making the pledge 21 March, he was released on bail.

Regarding the charges brought by the US authorities, the judge said that “Firtash’s group was interested in developing a titanium deposit in India.” “To do this, you need to obtain a license, and during this procedure, officials were bribed by Firtash and his subordinates,” he said, adding that about 19 million euros were spent on bribes.

According to the judge, additional information was requested from the American side. Including what caused the withdrawal of the request in November 2013. The Vienna court also asked the US law enforcement officers to provide access to the statements of two anonymous witnesses, on whose testimony the prosecution is largely based, but did not receive an exhaustive explanation.

Firtash’s lawyer, citing the political background of the US charges, said that he became a “global entrepreneur”, has been active in the Ukrainian gas market since 2004, and since 2006 has expanded his presence in the global titanium market. In addition, according to the defense lawyer, during the election campaign in Ukraine in 2010, Firtash supported not Yulia Tymoshenko, but Viktor Yanukovych. “The titanium case became just a pretext,” he concluded.