Swiss Court Says Former Russian Minister Should Face Justice In Russia

by Ulrika Lomas, for LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

02 January 2006

The United States government has expressed disappointment at the decision by Switzerland's highest court to extradite former Russian Nuclear Minister Yevgeny Adamov to his homeland rather than to the US, where he faced charges of embezzling millions of dollars in US aid.

Arrested in May last year, Adamov was accused of channelling US$9 million in US government funds intended to help Russia improve its nuclear safety record into his own businesses based in Russia, Ukraine and the United States.

A grand jury in Pittsburgh indicted Adamov on charges of conspiracy to transfer stolen money and securities, conspiracy to defraud the United States, money laundering and tax evasion.

A lower court had initially agreed to extradite Adamov to the United States, but the Swiss federal court, based in Lausanne, upheld an appeal by the former Russian minister to be extradited to his homeland after considering his nationality, the country where the alleged crimes took place and the date that the extradition requests were received.

"With extradition to Russia, it can be guaranteed that the crimes under investigation will be examined for overall judgment in the country primarily affected," the court said.

Crucially for the US government, which had been keen to see Adamov tried in an American court, their extradition request was not received by the Swiss authorities until June 2005 - almost two months after Adamov's arrest and a month after the Russian government had sent their own extradition request.

State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters that the US government was "disappointed" by the Swiss court's decision.

"We respect the Swiss justice system, but we would have greatly preferred that he be extradited here," Ereli stated.

"We look to the government of Russia to see that justice is done in this case," he added.

Adamov, who served in the government of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, had argued that it was common practice at the time to shelter money in private accounts to protect against the ravages of inflation and instability in the domestic banking system following the collapse of communism.

Adamov was sacked by current President Vladimir Putin in March 2001 following a cabinet reshuffle.

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