Expect “no fair trial”
France does not extradite billionaire Zhevago to Ukraine
November 10, 2023, 5:44 p.m
Ukraine wants to put Konstyantin Zhevago on trial on suspicion of embezzlement. The billionaire was arrested in the French Alps almost a year ago – but the French don’t want to extradite him for a good reason.
France will not extradite billionaire Konstyantin Zhevago to Ukraine. A French appeals court found that a fair trial was not guaranteed given Ukraine’s martial law regime, according to a ruling obtained by Reuters on Friday.
“(The court) concludes that the applicant State is unable to guarantee that Mr Zhevago will be brought before a court capable of guaranteeing basic procedural guarantees and the protection of the rights of the defense.” A spokesman for Zhevagos said the French proceedings had been discontinued.
Ukraine wants to bring Zhevago to trial on suspicion of embezzlement in connection with the collapse of the Finance & Credit Bank (F&C) in 2015. Zhevago was arrested in December 2022 at the request of Ukraine in the French ski resort of Courcheval, but was then released on bail of one million euros. He repeatedly rejected the allegations of the Ukrainian authorities.
Zhevago is the main shareholder of the London-listed iron ore producer Ferrexpo, which is operationally controlled from Switzerland. Zhevago said in a statement that he wanted to refute Ukraine’s allegations. “As soon as possible within Ukrainian jurisdiction, I will make every effort to contest the allegations against me through the legal process.”
In connection with Zhevago, Ukraine revealed millions of euros in bribe payments to the Supreme Court in May. Court President Vsevolod Knyasiev was caught accepting three million US dollars (2.76 million euros), the online newspaper “Ukrainskaya Pravda” reported. Knyasiev was taken into custody. There were subsequent raids on 18 more judges. According to media reports, they were suspected of accepting payments from Zhevago.