Thai court allows extradition of Russian national to US

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) - A court in Thailand allowed the extradition of a Russian national held in Bangkok for fraud and money-laundering to U.S., local media reports reported Wednesday.

Dmitry Ukrainsky, 47, is wanted for malware fraud in the U.S., said the Bangkok Post. He has already served a term in Buddhist-majority Thailand.

He was arrested for fraud and money-laundering in July 2016 by Thai police and was subsequently jailed. The Russian national has 30 days to appeal the extradition ruling.

The report said U.S. officials sought his extradition because Ukrainsky “had sent malware via emails to victims in the US, Australia, Japan, England, Italy and Germany.”

The Ratchadapisek Criminal Court in Bangkok said in the verdict that Ukrainsky can face prison sentences of 12 months or more, according to the daily Nation.

"The offences could also not be categorized as political offences and their statute of limitation hadn’t yet expired, so the case fitted the criteria to allow his extradition as the U.S. authorities had requested," the report quoted the court verdict.

Ukrainsky maintained his innocence. The court, however, took into consideration an arrest warrant by a U.S. court, the report added.

The Bangkok Post, quoting U.S. officials, alleged Ukrainsky led gang had “withdrawn more than 1 billion Thai baht ($32 million) in total from victims' accounts, depositing it in about 50 accounts opened in Thailand” using the malware program.

“The US investigation into the frauds [began] in 2013 and found many money transfers to Thailand,” it said.

It added that the Russian national was living in the tourist resort city of Pattaya for the last decade. “He ran a yacht charter company,” the report said.