An Austrian court has definitively blocked the United States' extradition request for former Ukrainian gas magnate Dmytro Firtash, ending more than ten years of legal hearings that began after his arrest and the payment of a record bail of 125 million euros. Bloomberg reports this, writes UNN.
Details
The Higher Regional Court of Vienna confirmed that the lower court's decision, which blocked Firtash's transfer to the US, is final, as prosecutors failed to meet the deadline for filing an appeal.
US prosecutors sought to bring Firtash to justice on charges that he orchestrated a conspiracy to pay Indian officials $18.5 million to facilitate a $500 million titanium project there.
The Ukrainian businessman categorically denies any wrongdoing and claims that the US charges were intended to influence Ukrainian politics.
He has been fighting the charges in Vienna, where he moved his companies and where he has resided since posting a record bail in 2014.
Reference
Dmytro Firtash made his fortune by trading gas, particularly with Russia's Gazprom PJSC, and later, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, expanded his activities into the chemical industry and television, becoming one of Ukraine's most influential people.
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