A court in Austria will not now extradite to Spain Hares Youssef, a Syrian businessman and partner of Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash.
Both men had been accused by the Spanish authorities of having links to an organized crime network in Spain involved in money laundering. Firtash and Youssef were arrested in Vienna in late February, under a European Arrest Warrant issued by the Spanish authorities.
Youssef spent two weeks in jail, but then was released on 100,000-euro bail.
For Firtash, the extradition request from Spain came on top of another extradition request from the United States. The oligarch is wanted by the U.S. authorities in connection with a bribery case, and has been fighting attempts to extradite him for three years.
The Austrian courts in February ruled that Firtash be extradited to the United States, but he has appealed against the decision and the court process is ongoing. Meanwhile, the oligarch still faces extradition to Spain under the organized crime case.
Christina Salzborn, the Austrian Criminal Court spokesperson, told the Kyiv Post on July 7 that the extradition warrant for Youssef had been canceled in late June after the Spanish authorities informed the court that the accused businessman had attended a court hearing in Barcelona in May.
The European Pravda news website on July 7 reported that the Spanish courts would continue the case against Youssef, while revealing no details. The Spanish prosecutor’s office press service told European Pravda on July 7 that the next court hearing on Youssef’s case had been set for mid-July.
Spain’s extradition request to Austria described Youssef as Firtash’s trusted associate and part of a network of individuals alleged to have laundered tens of millions of euros.
Both men deny the charges against them. Salzborn said that while Youseff’s extradition has been canceled, the Austrian court hasn’t yet ruled on whether to extradite Firtash to Spain, as Spanish prosecutors haven’t sent required information about Spain’s case against Ukrainian oligarch to the court.
“We can’t cancel the warrant without (the information from) our Spanish colleagues. But I can say that it’s not unusual for us to still be waiting for information. It all depends on the judge’s decision,” Salzborn said.
Youssef refused to give any comments to the Kyiv Post.
The Reuters news agency reported on Feb. 24 that Firtash had been released on the basis of the Austrian court retaining a $125 million bond he paid in 2014, when he was first detained in Vienna at the request of the United States.
Firtash was also ordered to surrender his passport to the court.
Read more about Firtash’s Syrian friend Youssef here.
