Extradition from Bahamas—Viktor Kozeny

Bahamas Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell has given his approval for the commencement of extradition proceedings of Viktor Kozeny.^[1] In October, Mr. Kozeny was indicted in New York on 27 counts related to attempts to bribe senior government officials in the former Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan.^[2] When Mr. Kozeny’s indictment was announced in October, it was noted that he had been arrested by Bahamas authorities, and that his co-defendants had voluntarily surrendered to the FBI’s offices in Manhattan.^[3]

According to the indictment, Mr. Kozeny controlled two companies which participated in a privatization program in Azerbaijan.^[4] Under that program, Azeri citizens could use free government-issued vouchers to bid for shares of state-owned industries that were to be privatized, and these vouchers were intended to be freely traded.^[5] Mr. Kozeny, it is alleged, directed others to purchase vouchers and options using millions of dollars of cash that were flown into Azerbaijan on his private jet.^[6] It is also alleged that he paid millions of dollars in bribes to Azeri government officials to insure that his investment consortium would gain a controlling interest in “SOCAR,” the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic.^[7] Mr. Kozeny is charged with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act [hereinafter FCPA], and with conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The fascinating thing about Mr. Kozeny’s case is that he is a Czech national and an Irish citizen, wanted in New York for acts committed in Azerbaijan, and facing extradition from the Bahamas. The jurisdictional hook the United States is using to put him on trial is that the companies he controls have shareholders who are by and large American citizens and “domestic concerns”; “[a]s such [Mr.] Kozeny was an agent of ‘domestic concerns’ as that term is defined in the FCPA, 15 U.S.C. § 78dd-2(h)(1)(A).”^[8]

Extradition from the Bahamas is governed by the extradition treaty between the US and the Bahamas, signed on March 9, 1990. Under the treaty, an offense is extraditable if it is punishable under the laws in both countries by deprivation of liberty for a period of more than one year.^[9] In terms of offenses committed outside the territory of the requesting state, the treaty states that an offense that is described in the treaty “shall be an extraditable offense whether or not the offense was committed within the territory of the Requesting State.”^[10] However, in such circumstances, “extradition shall be granted if the law of the Requested State provides for punishment of an offense committed outside of its territory in similar circumstances.”^[11] This is an issue we have seen arise in the case of Raymond Griffiths, who is wanted out of Australia.

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[1] Bahamas Approves Extradition Proceedings Against Irish Businessman, Associated Press, Dec. 3, 2005.
[2] Id.
[3] US Attorney’s Office, Press Release: U.S. Announces Charges in Massive Scheme to Bribe Senior Government Officials in the Republic of Azerbaijan, Oct. 6, 2005. (PDF)
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Id.
[7] Id.
[8] US. v. Kozeny, No. 05 Crim. 518 (S.D.N.Y. 2005) at 4. (PDF)
[9] Extradition Treaty, Mar. 9, 1990, U.S.- Bah., art. 2, para. 1, S. Treaty Doc. No. 102-17 (1994).
[10] Id. art. 2, para. 4.
[11] Id.