Austria’s ruling means Ukraine will remain a country where crime pays | beyondbrics

Austria’s ruling means Ukraine will remain a country where crime pays | beyondbrics:



"Austria’s refusal to extradite Dmitry Firtash to the US is confirmation that Europe holds two contradictory positions on corruption. While the European Union urges Ukraine to fight corruption, some of its member states – such as Latvia, Cyprus (still the largest ‘foreign investor’ into Ukraine), the UK, Austria, France, Monaco and Switzerland, along with Caribbean offshore zones such as the Virgin Islands – continue to enjoy the fruits of corrupt proceeds that are laundered abroad.



Firtash, a Ukrainian gas mogul and former partner of Gazprom, had been charged in the US with involvement in an international racketeering conspiracy that allegedly paid $18.5m in bribes to government officials in India in exchange for permits to mine titanium for export to Boeing in Chicago.



Ukraine is the most corrupt country in Europe, according to the anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International. But it will remain a country where crime pays because members of its elites are never criminally convicted."



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