VIENNA, June 25 (Xinhua) -- The Austrian Supreme Court of Justice ruled on Tuesday that Ukrainian tycoon Dmytro Firtash can be extradited to the U.S., where he has been indicted on bribery charges in Chicago.
The court backed an earlier ruling from the Higher Regional Court of Vienna and dismissed an extension appeal from Firtash's lawyers, clearing the final hurdle in the ongoing case.
The 54-year-old tycoon was first arrested by Austrian authorities in 2014 over allegations he was part of a scheme to pay over 18 million U.S. dollars in bribes to Indian officials to secure titanium mining permits there, with the U.S. having actively sought his extradition.
He was subsequently released after posting a massive 125-million-euro (142 million U.S. dollars) bail, the largest in Austrian history, declaring he would fight the charges leveled against him in the United States.
He has been under house arrest since then. A 2015 court hearing ruled out his extradition to the U.S., though this was overturned in 2017 and now further backed by the Supreme Court, the final court of appeal.
The final decision, however, is now up to Justice Minister Clemens Jabloner, whose approval is required for Firtash to be extradited.
