Italy agrees to extradite Russian accused of fixing Olympic skating

AN ITALIAN court has agreed to extradite to the United States a Russian man accused of fixing figure skating events at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, the Russian’s lawyer said yesterday.

The court in Venice ruled in favour of the extradition after a US grand jury last year charged Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov on five counts, including conspiracy to commit bribery related to sporting contests.

Tokhtakhounov's lawyer said the extradition would not be immediate and that his client would appeal the ruling. Tokhtakhounov is in custody in Venice, pending extradition.

"The court now has 15 days in which to issue the reasons for its ruling and then we can appeal," lawyer Eriberto Rosso said.

Tokhtakhounov, a Russian citizen born in Uzbekistan, was arrested by police last July in Italy where he was living at a seaside house on the northwestern coast in response to a complaint filed by New York prosecutors. His arrest was linked to a controversy that prompted Olympic officials to take the unprecedented step of awarding a second set of gold medals to the Canadian runners-up in the pairs skating event won by Russia.

US prosecutors allege Tokhtakhounov and others had agreed that if a French judge voted for the Russians in the pairs event, the Russians would ensure the French ice dancing team won the gold medal in the dance competition.

The charges allege that Tokhtakhounov, who previously lived in France, carried out the scheme to generate goodwill with French authorities to get an extension of his French visa.

US prosecutors said they were alerted to the alleged Olympic scheme by Italian authorities who had him under surveillance for other reasons.

US prosecutors have alleged that Tokhtakhounov is a major figure in international organised crime who has been involved in drug distribution, illegal firearms sales and trafficking in stolen vehicles.

In the Olympic scandal, French skating judge Marie Reine Le Gougne said she was pressured by French figure skating President Didier Gailhaguet to vote for a Russian couple in the Olympic pairs.

The International Skating Union voted on April 30 to suspend Le Gougne and Gailhaguet for three years. They were also barred from participation in the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy.

Le Gougne was accused of deliberately under-marking Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier under pressure from Gailhaguet in favour of Russian rivals Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, who won the event in a 5-4 judging split.