Irish citizen in Bahamas court over fraud scam

AN Irish citizen, who has been branded a major international fugitive, is due to appear in court in the Bahamas today over his alleged role in a multimillion dollar fraud scam.

The US authorities are seeking the extradition of Czech businessman Viktor Kozeny in relation to a $182 million (€150m) fraud linked to an oil company in Azerbaijan.

A court in the Bahamas capital, Nassau, will decide today whether to try Kozeny on a charge of grand larceny or extradite him to the US where he faces a possible jail term of up to 25 years.

Kozeny - who has been nicknamed the “Pirate of Prague” and the “Bouncing Czech” - bought his Irish citizenship as part of the controversial “passports for investment” scheme during the 1990s.

He obtained six Irish passports since 1995 after he had invested €1.27m in a software company called Irish Medical Systems.

Kozeny, 42, has been a fugitive from the Czech authorities since 2003 in relation to separate fraud charges. Some 80,000 of his former clients are reported to be waiting for €332.6m promised by Kozeny in another privatisation scheme.

The controversial financier has been held in a high-security prison in Nassau since his arrest last October.

Kozeny had managed to avoid arrest since moving to the Bahamas in 1993, despite the existence of several international arrest warrants. However, his assets have been frozen as the result of several lawsuits filed against him in courts in Britain, the US, the Bahamas and the British Virgin Islands.

The US authorities believe Kozeny is the mastermind of a multimillion euro failed attempt to take control of the state oil company in Azerbaijan in 1998 for a group of prominent US investors by offering bribes to Azeri officials.

His lawyer claimed last year that Kozeny will walk free from the charges because of his Irish passport.

New York lawyer Benjamin Brafman has argued that the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act only applies to US citizens.

Kozeny has also claimed that he is a victim of political persecution by the Czech government.

The Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin said Kozeny had not sought any consular assistance as a result of the current legal proceedings against him.