Firtash Sells Himself Well – German Journalist

What You Need To Know:

✅ The Firtash case isn't very important for Austria as there are many bigger cases, such as the case with the Kazakhstani President's son, and international money laundering isn't being investigated enough

✅ Money laundering is a problem all over the world and it seems that European justice is not strong enough to deal with it.

✅ Ukrainian authorities aren't very active in advancing the investigation of Firtash

✅ Firtash created The Agency for the Modernization of Ukraine only for one reason: to promote himself as a positive hero. After success in the court, sources say he completely stopped financing it.

Cathrin Kahlweit, Süddeutsche Zeitung Journalist wrote a story about Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash and The Agency for the Modernization of Ukraine and money laundering in Austria and across the world.

Cathrin Kahlweit says that the Firtash case isn't unique for Austria, and that Firtash feels well in Austria because nobody will bother him and he has influential ties in the Austrian political and business elite. Still, there isn’t enough pressure from the Ukrainian side to investigate the Firtash case.

On the last court hearing in the end of April 2015, Firtash received the possibility to stay in Austria and not be extradited to the USA. In the beginning of October 2015 he declared that he is ready to go back to Ukraine.

Hromadske International's Alexandra Azarkhina interviewed Cathrin Kahlweit in Kyiv on October 15th 2015 during the School of Kyiv Biennial.