OREANDA-NEWS. The Austrian Vice Chancellor and Minister of Justice Clemens Jabloner has agreed to extradite the Ukrainian billionaire Dmitry Firtash to the United States of America. Further extradition arrangement is the responsibility of a local criminal court in Vienna.

The chairman of Group DF Dmitry Firtash was arrested in Austria in March 2014 at the request of the US authorities. According to the Americans, a businessman wanted to obtain permits for the extraction of titanium raw materials in India for the sale of final product in the United States. For that purpose Firtash was going to bribe Indian officials, the total sum of offered bribes was 18.5 million dollars. For this crime Firtash may be sentenced to up to 50 years in prison. Firtash did not admit his guilt saying that the charges were politically motivated. For the past few years Firtash has been living in Austria under the recognizance not to leave the country.

On June 25 2019, the Austrian Supreme Court of Justice rejected a complaint of Ukrainian businessman against the decision of the appellate court about his extradition to the United States which was issued in February 2017. Then it was noted that the final decision on the case, which has lasted since 2014, should be taken by the Minister of Justice of Austria.

Firtash’s extradition was also sought by Spain authorities (they suspect him of money laundering and creating a criminal gang), but at the end of 2017, the Vienna courts rejected the extradition request.