Posted on 01/19/2005 11:51:57 PM PST by Darko
New York judge orders former Bosnian U.N. ambassador extradited
By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK -- A judge has ordered the extradition of the former Bosnian ambassador to the United Nations after authorities in Bosnia accused him of stealing more than $2.4 million of their government's money.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Frank Maas stayed the effect of his extradition order for 10 days to allow Muhamed Sacirbey, 48, to appeal the ruling. He also permitted Sacirbey to remain free on bail.
Sacirbey, reached by telephone Wednesday at his Staten Island home, said he would quickly challenge the ruling.
"We stand by the position that this is not only a political issue but that I did have full authority to expend funds in the way that I did," said Sacirbey, who was born in Sarajevo in 1956 and became a U.S. citizen in 1973.
The judge issued the order Tuesday. He wrote in a ruling there was probable cause to conclude Sacirbey embezzled, even if the crime requires him to have acted intentionally to steal funds for personal gain.
Sacirbey, whose name is spelled on the title page of legal documents as Sacirbegovic, said the judge's conclusions were wrong.
A judge in Bosnia issued a warrant for his arrest in December 2001.
Sacirbey has testified that he acted properly while he was ambassador to the United Nations for Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1992 to 2000, even using his own money to fund operations when he did not receive government money.
He contends that he received no improper personal benefit from government funds and that any shortfalls were overcome by personal funds he contributed to Bosnia's mission and by his decision not to accept a salary while he was ambassador.
The Bosnian government accused him of stealing about $1.8 million from its Investment Fund Ministry. And a commission appointed by Bosnia's Foreign Ministry found in 2001 that $610,980 was missing from Bosnia's mission to the United Nations.
The judge said the evidence he saw suggested that Sacirbey all but conceded that some of his expenditures were improper by telling an investigator he would be able to restore some of the missing funds. The judge said that despite that representation, Sacirbey evidently "never replenished the mission account."
"Worse yet," the judge added, Sacirbey apparently diverted some emergency financial assistance for the mission that had been sent to pay overdue bills after it was learned that money was missing.
He said evidence suggests Sacirbey also may have evaded efforts by investigators to contact him to resolve some of the problems auditors had discovered. He said the ambassador also failed to account for personal advances he took against the mission account, including large sums of cash paid to lawyers.
"From this evidence, a finder of fact reasonably could conclude that Sacirbey embezzled funds from the mission account and used them for his own personal needs," the judge wrote.
Sacirbey said Wednesday that he has invited Bosnian prosecutors to interview him in the United States before concluding whether to bring formal charges against him.
"I look forward to the opportunity through the appeals process to set this injustice straight," he said.
He must have owed a lot of money in unpaid parking tickets.
"A judge has ordered the extradition of the former Bosnian ambassador to the United Nations after authorities in Bosnia accused him of stealing more than $2.4 million of their government's money."
Give that man a raise.
He is a US citizen..................
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