By IANTHIA SMITH, Guardian Staff Reporter
ianthia@nasguard.com
Czech financier Viktor Kozeny was arraigned in Magistrate's Court yesterday on a long list of charges, related to a $500 million fraud scam.
The Lyford Cay resident, who is wanted for extradition to the U S, was remanded to Her Majesty's Prison until today when a request for bail will be heard. A preliminary inquiry date is set for Dec 1 when Magistrate Carolita Bethel will decide whether to try Mr Kozeny in The Bahamas or extradite him to the U S.
Mr Kozeny who once served as an Honorary Council for Grenada to The Bahamas, was charged on Oct 2, 2003 with grand larceny. The charges stemmed from a 2002 case where he allegedly defrauded clients of New York Company's Omega Advisors Inc. of $182 million in his dealings in Azerbaijan in 1998. He could face 25 years in prison in the U S.
A Czech newspaper, 'the Prague Daily News' reported earlier this year, that he was also charged in July 2002 in the Czech Republic for alleged fraud, related to his 'infamous' Harvard Funds. Some 240,000 former clients of Harvard are reportedly still waiting for $403 million he promised them. Reports claim that he will be tried in absentia as a fugitive and faces up to eight years in prison in the Czech Republic.
Mr Kozeny reportedly rejected the fraud charges, saying Omega's clients got the Azeri privitisation coupons they asked him to obtain for them. Further details of the case revealed that he allegedly persuaded several top managers at Omega, including former U S Senator George Mitchell, that through buying privatization coupons they could assume control of Socar, Azerbaijan's state-owned oil company. The deal failed Mr Kozeny said because of unsuccessful attempts to bribe Azeri officials.
He further claimed that he was a victim of political persecution by the Czech government.
The troubled financier has been known as a big spender, who owned two planes and a 165-foot yacht. In Fortune Magazine, back in 2000, it was said that he built a $14 million swimming pool the size of a small lake at his Lyford Cay home.
He also reportedly used $3 million to buy luxury home furnishings and other items for his houses in Lyford Cay and Aspen, Colorado.
Mr Kozeny's assets have been frozen and the lawsuits against him which were filed in courts in the U S, Britain, The Bahamas and the British Virgin Islands, have been postponed, pending the criminal investigation in New York.
Mr Kozeny has managed to avoid arrest in these countries and has been living in The Bahamas since 1993.
