.Czech-born financier Viktor Kozeny faces extradition to the US to face bribery and corruption charges if he cannot prove the evidence brought against him to be, in Prosecutor Francis Cumberbatch’s word, ‘worthless’
Considering that Magistrate Carolita Bethel ruled on Friday morning that a case had been made against him based on that evidence, Kozenyﾒs position appears tenuous at best.
Mr. Cumberbatch, who appeared for the Attorney Generalﾒs office on behalf of the requesting state, the United States, said that Kozeny now has to decide whether or not he will defend himself against the charges, as he has a constitutional right to do.
He also pointed out that Magistrate Bethel had already considered all the evidence deemed admissible and decided that a case had in fact been made out against Kozeny, suggesting that Kozeny would have a hard time proving the evidence worthless.
If Kozeny, a Lyford Cay resident who has been on remand at Her Majestyﾒs Prison since October, chooses to offer a defense and is unsuccessful, he will be extradited to the US. There, he will face charges of corruption in the privatization of the Azerbaijan oil industry.
Philip Davis, part of Kozenyﾒs defense team, noted that the money laundering and bribery charges brought against Kozeny in the first “Authority To Proceed” (ATP) were dismissed as a reason for extradition.
Mr. Davis explained that Kozeny was called to respond to corruption charges as set out in the second ATP, which referenced the Penal Code and the Inter-American Treaty Concerning Bribery and Corruption.
The magistrate has asked for submissions from both sides on whether or not that treaty ought to apply to Kozenyﾒs case, since it was ratified after the crimes he is charged with were allegedly committed.
U.S. authorities allege that Kozeny bribed officials of the former Soviet Republic, Azerbaijan, in an attempt to gain an advantage during the privatization of the state-owned Oil Company.
Kozeny, Frederic Bourke Jr. and David Pinkerton were charged with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which makes it a crime to offer to pay, or to pay, foreign government officials in order to obtain or retain business.
The indictment further alleges that, beginning in August 1997 and continuing until 1999, Kozeny, Bourke and Pinkerton and others paid or caused to be paid millions of dollars worth of bribes to Azeri government officials to ensure that their investment consortium would gain a controlling interest in SOCAR, the state owned oil company, and be able to reap huge profits from its ultimate resale in the market.
Bahamian law enforcement authorities arrested Kozeny, who is originally from the Czech Republic but has Irish and Venezuelan citizenships, on October 6th pursuant to a provisional arrest request made by the U.S. government.
The lawyers will deliver their submissions on the corruption treaty on Tuesday, June 27.
By: Quincy Parker, The Bahama Journal
