The Vienna highest state court (Wiener Oberlandesgericht, OLG) decided on Friday to reconsider the extradition case against Dmytro Firtash to the US and return the case to the court of first instance.
“The February 2017 decision of the Vienna District Court (on Firtash’s extradition) has been reversed. Now the Vienna State Criminal Court (OG) will re-examine the question of the admissibility of extradition on the basis of new evidence,” the court said in a press release
The statement issued by Group DF, which unites the assets of the Ukrainian businessman, also said that the first instance court will consider the case based on new evidence and facts provided by the parties and that Firtash’s extradition is now stopped.
According to the lawyer of the Ukrainian businessman Dieter Böhmdorfer (Dieter Böhmdorfer), which are cited in the report, the defense has been seeking this decision since June 2019.
“Dmitry Firtash is grateful to the independent Austrian judicial system for the objective consideration of the case and quite logically – the appointment of a retrial on the basis of new facts and evidence provided to the court,” the lawyer pointed out.
The press service of Group DF and the lawyers would not comment on the details of the court battles and arguments to persuade the Austrian court to make an objective decision, the release said
As reported, the head of the Board of Group DF Firtash was arrested in Austria on March 12, 2014 at the request of the US authorities, issued in 2013, but then released on bail of EUR125 million. Under the US administration of Barack Obama, the Ukrainian businessman was accused that he wanted to obtain permits for titanium mining in India for the subsequent sale of finished products in the USA to Boeing with the help of bribes totaling $18.5 million. Firtash denies all accusations and calls them politically motivated, aimed at limiting his influence on the processes in Ukraine.
In April 2015, the OG rejected the request of the US Ministry of Justice for the extradition of Firtash, indicating that it is impossible to rule out political motives for the extradition request. However, in February 2017, the OLG reconsidered this decision on a complaint from the prosecutor’s office, and in June 2019, the Austrian Supreme Court (OGH) confirmed the legality of the extradition.
After that, the Austrian Ministry of Justice issued a corresponding ruling on extradition, but the process was suspended in July 2019 due to the Ukrainian businessman’s defense request to the OGH for a new review, taking into account additional data collected. According to Kurier, the OG decision was delayed due to the large number of documents submitted, communication problems due to the coronavirus and due to the change of judges.
In March 2022, Firtash’s lawyers reportedly filed an appeal with the OLG against the OG’s decision to reject the request for a retrial of the businessman’s extradition to the United States.
The Association of Gardeners of the Republic of Poland has appealed to the Minister of Agriculture Robert Telusz with a request to take urgent measures to stop the import of strawberries from Ukraine, to limit it and subsequently stop it completely, reported the Polish edition sad24.pl.
“In connection with the information that has appeared in recent days about the import of large quantities of industrial strawberries from Ukraine to Poland, we asked the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development to intervene and take urgent measures to stop the possible practice and its reduction – permanently stopped,” the publication quoted the website of the Association.
Polish gardeners insist on preventing a situation on the market similar to that of Ukrainian grains, when uncontrolled imports collapsed the market and caused a huge drop in prices.
The Association of Polish Gardeners insists on the introduction of a system of official quality control of each batch of fruit arriving in the country, especially for residues of plant protection products, and to suspend further trade of goods until the results of the examination.
“Kernel, one of Ukraine’s largest agro-industrial groups, in the third quarter of fiscal year 2023 (FY, January-March 2023), earned $69 million in net profit, while it ended the same period last year with a net loss of $103 million.
According to a financial report on the company’s Web site, the agriholding’s revenue fell 51 percent to $825 million in the reporting period.
EBITDA for the third quarter of 2023FY was $155 million, compared to a negative $32 million in 2022FY.
Compared to the previous quarter, net income decreased by 67%, EBITDA – by 44%, and revenue – by 33%, Kernel said.
Agroholding attributed this decrease to a decrease in both volumes and prices.
The company added that the net change in fair value of biological assets resulted in a loss of $11 million in January-March 2023, compared to a loss of $74 million in the same period the previous year.
“Kernel also recognized a $20 million asset impairment loss in the third quarter of fiscal 2023.
It is specified that in the structure of EBITDA the segment of infrastructure and trade in the third quarter of FY 2023 decreased by 32% year-on-year to $71 million, but was higher by 15% quarter-on-quarter, which was facilitated by a high trade markup on grain of Ukrainian origin.
Due to a decrease in world prices for grains and oilseeds in January-March 2023, the agriculture segment posted a $24 million loss in the reporting period.
According to the report, Kernel managed to reduce its net debt to $833 million as of March 31 this year from $1.048 billion at the beginning of the year and $1.715 billion at the end of March last year.
At the same time, agricultural stocks decreased to $497 million from $593 million and $1.181 billion, respectively.
Overall, Kernel increased its net profit by 36% YoY to $437 mln and EBITDA by 11% while revenues decreased by 45% to $2.715 bln in 9M2003.
As reported, Kernel ended FY2022 with a net loss of $41 million compared to $506 million in net income in the previous fiscal year on revenue down 5% to $5.332 billion.
Benchmark crude oil prices are declining Friday morning after a significant increase a day earlier.
Traders are worried about the likelihood of further rate hikes by the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank, which could have a negative impact on fuel demand.
Brent crude futures for August delivery on London’s ICE Futures Exchange stood at $75.49 per barrel as of 7:57 a.m., down $0.18 (0.2%) from the close of the previous session. Those contracts rose $2.47 (3.4%) to $75.67 a barrel on Thursday.
The price of WTI futures for July crude oil on the electronic trades of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) fell on Friday morning by $0.16 (0.2%) to $70.46 per barrel. The contract value rose by $2.35 (3%) to $70.62 a barrel at the end of previous session.
The Fed’s management decided Wednesday not to change the prime rate range (5-5.25% per year), but signaled the likelihood of further increases this year to curb consumer price growth.
The ECB, as forecasted, raised all three key interest rates by 25 basis points at the end of Thursday’s meeting – to the highest levels in 22 years. At the same time, Bank President Christine Lagarde said that the set goals in the fight against inflation have not yet been achieved. According to her, the central bank is “very likely” to raise rates again in July.
Shevchenko district court of Lviv changed the measure of restraint of the president of the Ukrainian Association of soccer (UAF) Andriy Pavelko on the case of embezzlement of funds and arrested him for 60 days, reports the publication FootballHub.
“Today, June 16, the investigating judge of the Shevchenko district court of the city of Lviv Belinskaya granted the prosecutor’s petition to change the measure of restraint and decided to change the measure of restraint to detention for 60 days until August 14 inclusive,” the report says.
According to the newspaper, bail in the amount of UAH 9.88 million, which was paid for Pavelko in November 2022 by the company “UAF Marketing”, is transferred to the state.
As it was reported, in November 2022 Pechersk district court of Kyiv decided to choose preventive measure in the form of custody with the alternative of bail in 9 million 880 thousand UAH to the President of UAF Andriy Pavelko.
The criminal proceedings on embezzlement of funds were investigated for over three years by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and then handed over to the police. It is about possible corruption of the FFU in the construction of soccer fields, which the NABU investigated in 2018.
As part of the investigation, Pavelko and UAF General Secretary Yuriy Zapisotskiy have been notified of suspicion under the article on embezzlement of funds.
Austrian territorial communities handed over specialized equipment to Kherson rescuers to eliminate floods and save people as a result of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant explosion. The regional military administration reported.
“Communities of Laxenburg and Wiener Neudorf of the county of Mjodling of the Republic of Austria transferred for the needs of employees of the State Emergency Service: inflatable boats, outboard engines, life jackets, motor pumps, pumps, fire hoses and other”.
“The other day, with the assistance of the Embassy of Ukraine in Austria, the humanitarian aid arrived in Zakarpattya, and from there it will already reach Kherson region,” the OVA said in the report.
