No treaty but extradition of banker viable
Source: Agencies |
April 3, 2012, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THAI police said yesterday a fugitive Italian banker who was detained in Bangkok last week can legally be sent to Italy even though the two countries do not have an extradition treaty.
Colonel Chartchai Eimsaeng, deputy investigation chief of Thailand's immigration police, said Vito Roberto Palazzolo could be sent to Italy to serve a nine-year prison sentence for Mafia association because of a criminal cooperation agreement signed by both countries.
Palazzolo, 64, who was implicated in the "Pizza Connection" drug and money laundering trial, was detained on Friday as he prepared to board a flight to South Africa, his adopted homeland, where he lives under the name of Robert von Palace Kolbatschenko. He was the subject of an Interpol "Red Notice" issued at Italy's request. A Red Notice asks for a wanted person's detention for the purpose of extradition.
Thai police were tipped off to Palazzolo's whereabouts by Sicilian Carabinieri agents who had been monitoring Facebook and other social media postings by Palazzolo and his family, according to the Carabinieri.
In 2009, Italy's highest court upheld Palazzolo's 2006 conviction and nine-year sentence for his Mafia ties. Prosecutors allege that while working in Switzerland as a banker, Palazzolo laundered money for some of Italy's top mobsters, a charge he denies.
He has said that in 1982, while working as a banker in Switzerland, he returned US$6 million in funds to the Mafia after being threatened by the mob.
Colonel Chartchai Eimsaeng, deputy investigation chief of Thailand's immigration police, said Vito Roberto Palazzolo could be sent to Italy to serve a nine-year prison sentence for Mafia association because of a criminal cooperation agreement signed by both countries.
Palazzolo, 64, who was implicated in the "Pizza Connection" drug and money laundering trial, was detained on Friday as he prepared to board a flight to South Africa, his adopted homeland, where he lives under the name of Robert von Palace Kolbatschenko. He was the subject of an Interpol "Red Notice" issued at Italy's request. A Red Notice asks for a wanted person's detention for the purpose of extradition.
Thai police were tipped off to Palazzolo's whereabouts by Sicilian Carabinieri agents who had been monitoring Facebook and other social media postings by Palazzolo and his family, according to the Carabinieri.
In 2009, Italy's highest court upheld Palazzolo's 2006 conviction and nine-year sentence for his Mafia ties. Prosecutors allege that while working in Switzerland as a banker, Palazzolo laundered money for some of Italy's top mobsters, a charge he denies.
He has said that in 1982, while working as a banker in Switzerland, he returned US$6 million in funds to the Mafia after being threatened by the mob.
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