The Czech Republic could the new diplomatic relations to deal with the case of former head of the Harvard Funds Viktor Kozeny, prosecuted as fugitive for extensive fraud in the Czech Republic, who is currently living in the Bahamas near Florida.
“It is still a very long time from the date of the establishment of diplomatic relations to the signing of any agreements. These are complicated talks which take months or even years to complete, even if there is interest on the side of the Bahamas,” Justice Ministry spokesman Petr Dimun told CTK yesterday.
According to diplomatic sources, the Bahamas usually do not sign agreements on extradition. If the country does sign an agreement, the people concerned usually manage to leave the Bahamas for another country, most frequently nearby Belize, Central America, which does not extradite prosecuted persons.
The former chief of Harvardsky prumyslovy holding (HPH) Boris Vostry, who has been prosecuted along with Kozeny, is currently living in Belize
According to police charges, both Kozeny and Vostry were transferring property worth CZK 11.5 billion from HPH and Sklo Union Teplice from 1995 to 97 eventually bankrupting the HPH.
Kozeny has also been prosecuted in the United States for the embezzlement of USD 182 million.
U.S. state attorney Robert Morgenthau announced that he is going to bring Kozeny to the U.S. from the Bahamas before the Manhattan tribunal.
If the Bahamas extradite Kozeny to the Americans on the basis of their extradition treaty, Czech authorities can ask the USA for legal aid.
The Czech judiciary announced last September that it would ask the Bahamas to extradite Kozeny on the basis of the agreement on extradition of criminals from 1925, binding on all then British colonies, including the Bahamas.
Kozeny, who has an Irish passport, claims he is a victim of political persecution by the Czech government.
The Czech-Bahamian agreement on diplomatic relations was signed by the heads of the Czech and Bahamian permanent missions to the U.N., Hynek Kmonicek and Paulette Bethel respectively, in New York on Monday. The Czech diplomatic mission will work under the Czech Embassy in Havana.
Kmonicek said that the diplomatic relations were established in connection with the Czech candidacy for the U.N. Security Council for 2008-2009.
“The Czech Republic is trying to set up diplomatic relations with a few countries in the world with which it has had no diplomatic relations since its foundation in 1993,” Kmonicek told CTK in New York.
Prague Daily Monitor
