Mediaboss Marketing

Dmytro Firtash arrives at court in Vienna on Tuesday. His arrest is separate from the extradition ruling. Photograph: Heinz-Peter Bader/Reuters

Ukrainian businessman Dmytro Firtash has been detained in Vienna on a European arrest warrant, a spokeswoman for the citys prosecutors has said on Tuesday, minutes after an Austrian court granted an extradition request from the US.

The spokeswoman said Firtashs detention was technically separate from the extradition ruling as it was based on a Spanish request for his arrest for which she could give no details.

She said it was too early to tell how the implementation of the European arrest warrant would impact on the decision to extradite Firtash to the US over bribery allegations which he denies.

The extradition approval on Tuesday overturned an earlier ruling that had said the US request was politically motivated.

Firtash is a former supporter of Ukraines ousted president, Viktor Yanukovich, and made a fortune selling Russian gas to the Kiev government.

[The appeal against the previous ruling] has been granted, the judge told a courtroom packed with journalists and Firtashs family. This does not mean that somebody is being prejudged as guilty, but rather that it will be decided in another country whether they are guilty or innocent.

The judge said that since the previous Austrian court ruling, the US had offered further documents, based on witness statements, to strengthen its case against Firtash.

A US grand jury indicted Firtash in 2013, along with a member of Indias parliament and four others, on suspicion of bribing Indian government officials to gain access to minerals used to make titanium-based products.

Speaking before Tuesdays verdict, Firtashs lawyer, Dieter Bhmdorfer, reiterated the accusation that the US was driven by politics in the case.

We must not allow Austria to become a stooge for the political world power the USA, Bhmdorfer told the court, adding that Firtash was a victim of a US strategy to minimise Russian influence in Ukraine.

Washington welcomed the ousting of the pro-Russian Yanukovich amid mass street protests in February 2014 and has backed his pro-western successor, Petro Poroshenko. Yanukovich now lives in exile in Russia.

The Austrian judge dismissed Bhmdorfers charge and said Firtash would get a fair trial in the US.

Firtash, whose business concerns in gas trading and chemicals thrived under Yanukovich, has not returned to Ukraine since his initial detention in Vienna in March 2014.

His star has waned under the current administration partly due to his exile, but Firtash retains influence thanks to his part-ownership of Inter, a top Ukrainian television channel, and his gas distribution and fertiliser businesses.

He is Ukraines 16th richest man, with an estimated wealth of $251m (202m) as of 2016, according to Forbes Ukraine.

Read more from the original source:
Austria grants US request to extradite Ukrainian businessman Dmytro Firtash - The Guardian