The embassy received today Herr Blocher's official reply to the application, which was forwarded a week ago, said Mr. Petrov.
The Federal Department of Justice will consider a previous Russian application for Adamov's extradition. A relevant procedure has been launched. The department will also consider an even earlier extradition application, from the USA, to decide which of the extradition warrants shall be entitled to priority. That is the only information the reply offers.
An official Russian application for Adamov's extradition reached Switzerland, May 17. It based on an arrest warrant Moscow's Basmanny district court issued, May 14, after the federal Prosecutor General's office launched criminal proceedings against him on suspected fraud and excess of powers.
Switzerland applied to the USA, May 2, for an extradition warrant, whose drawing procedure, according to the Swiss legislation, usually takes forty days to sixty-which implies June 30 for deadline. Extradition prospects will not come under consideration before that. When the warrant comes, Switzerland's Federal Department of Justice will have to decide which of the extradition warrants shall be entitled to priority.
Evgeni Adamov was holding Russia's Nuclear Energy portfolio, 1998 into 2001. He was detained in Bern, May 2, on US Department of Justice application, and the circuit court of the West Pennsylvania District warranted his arrest quite soon. At present, Adamov, 66, is in custody in Bern.
US judicial authorities suspect Evgeni Adamov and Mark Kaushansky, his business partner and US national, of embezzling a nine million dollar grant to Russia to build up its nuclear project safety.
Adamov is facing imprisonment for up to sixty years, and a $1.75 million fine on the US law, and Kaushansky imprisonment up to 180 years, and a five million dollar fine.
