Reprinted from Caribbean Net News
caribbeannetnews.com

Bahamas to extradite Czech financier Kozeny to US
09-30-2006

NASSAU, Bahamas (Reuters): A Bahamian court has ordered the extradition of a Czech financier who faces a long list of corruption charges in the United States, authorities said on Friday.

Victor Kozeny, once considered the Czech Republic's richest man, must be handed over to U.S. authorities who have sought his extradition for three years, Magistrate Carolita Bethel ruled on Thursday.

Bahamian police arrested Kozeny in October 2005 after he was indicted in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on 27 counts of bribing top Azerbaijan officials.

He is charged with defrauding clients of New York-based Omega Advisors Inc. of $182 million during his dealings in Azerbaijan in 1998 with authorities involved in the privatization of the former Soviet Republic's state-owned oil company.

If convicted, he could face 25 years in prison.

At Thursday's hearing, Kozeny's attorney said his client did not qualify to be extradited because he did not meet the four criteria required by the United States.

Clive Nicholls said that under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, people can be extradited only if they are U.S. citizens, officers or directors of domestic concerns, or employees of such a concern subject to U.S. jurisdiction.

Nicholls said Kozeny does not fall into any of those categories.

Kozeny has been a resident of the Bahamas since the 1990s and has a home in Nassau's exclusive Lyford Cay.