VIENNA, March 21 (RAPSI) – A court in Austria announced on Thursday that Ukrainian industrialist Dmytro Firtash, detained on an FBI arrest warrant, had posted 125 million euro ($174 million) in bail, but federal money laundering authorities had frozen the funds to investigate their origin.
“For this reason [Firtash] has not been released from custody,” the court said in a statement to journalists.
The Vienna court opened a case earlier this month on the extradition of Firtash, who has interests in gas trading and chemicals, setting 125 million euro bail for his release and prohibiting him from leaving Austria until the end of the hearing.
Such cases are often prolonged in Austria, which imposes no time limit on them.
The 48-year-old Firtash was arrested in central Vienna earlier this month based on an FBI arrest warrant. According to the FBI, the warrant was issued following an investigation of Firtash that began in 2006 and led to bribery and organized crime charges.
Firtash’s Group DF said in a statement “the incident is a misunderstanding and will be resolved soon,” adding the businessman’s arrest is linked to a 2006 investment project.
