Extradition: Kozeny 's Case before Bahama Court of Appeals

Frederic Bourke's co-defendant, Viktor Kozeny, continues his fight against extradition in the Courts of the Bahamas. BahamaJournal. December 3, 2009.

"On Tuesday, Kozeny’s attorney, Clyde Nichols QC argued that Justice Jon Isaacs was correct when he ruled against an extradition request back in October 2007.
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In his submissions, Mr. Nichols told the appeallate panel that the main issue is the nationality of the officials, who were allegedly being bribed by Kozeny and not whether Magistrate Carolita Bethel’s decision to commit the accused to prison to await extradition was lawful as the prosecution contends.
Kozeny’s attorney further added that the state cannot abuse its power by trying to extradite his client because the United States Government has no clear case againt him and the accusations were not made in good faith."

Previously posted re Frederic Bourke and his conviction after trial for violation of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Update. Bloomberg, November 10, 2009. Bourke sentenced to one year and one day and $1 Million Fine.
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Juror's Views of the Case Against Bourke, see Courthouse News.

"Although Bourke had read the Fortune article about Kozeny's Czech adventure at the time, he decided to invest anyway in Kozeny's scheme to privatize Azerbaijan's state-run oil industry SOCAR by buying vouchers from the country's citizens - and paying off senior officials, all the way up to then-Azeri President Haydar Aliyev. Throughout the trial, Bourke had maintained that he was just one of the many investors in Kozeny's failed scheme that lost his money when it derailed two years later and said he was ignorant of the bribes. However, jurors found there were too many "red flags" for Bourke not to have known."

Editor's Note: Frederic Bourke was convicted on July 10, 2009. New York Times reports:

"Frederic Bourke, a founder of the handbag maker Dooney & Bourke, was convicted Friday of conspiring to pay bribes to government leaders in Azerbaijan in a 1998 oil deal. The federal jury in Manhattan returned its verdict after a monthlong trial. Jurors found that Mr. Bourke conspired with a Czech expatriate, Viktor Kozeny, to pay bribes to the former president of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev, and other leaders. The verdict is a victory for federal prosecutors as they step up enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bars payments to foreign officials. Few criminal cases under the law ever go to trial."

Bourke's former Swiss attorney plead guilty and has testified for the prosecution.