Ahmad Khawaja, a former billionaire wanted by the United States, was detained in Lithuania in 2020. Released on a record-high bail, he is now living in a luxury hotel in Vilnius.
Although Khawaja says he has no money to repay the 110 million US dollars he owes in debts, he is staying at Stikliai, one of the most luxurious hotels in Vilnius. He has now been taken to court in Lithuania over his failure to provide the bailiff with data on his living expenses.
"Lithuanian law enforcement authorities have received a request from the US to extradite him to the US. The procedure is now ongoing," says Gintaras Černiauskas, a lawyer representing Spectro Finance, the company that turned to Lithuanian court over Khawaja's failure to provide information to the bailiff.
Khawaja is accused of illegally transferring 3.5 million US dollars to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in 2016. Khawaja claimed in 2020 he was being targeted because he had compromising information about the then US President Donald Trump.
Further reading
According to information provided to BNS by law firm Černiauskas & Partners, the US Federal Trade Council and the UK Financial Conduct Authority found in 2019 that Khawaja's company Allied Wallet Limited had committed fraud when processing electronic payments. It is accused of fraudulently obtaining over 110 million euros from its clients. Khawaja and his company must, therefore, repay the money to the defrauded consumers.
Khawaja then fled the US and went into hiding in Lebanon. However, he fled to Lithuania after the Beirut explosion in 2020, according to Černiauskas & Partners. He was arrested in Lithuania and told the country's courts the case against him was political.
Černiauskas & Partners also said that Spectro Finance is currently litigating with Khawaja and Allied Wallet Limited over 697,000 euros of allegedly embezzled money.
In 2021, Khawaja also faced charges for illegal payment operations worth 150 million US dollars and allegedly linked to money laundering. He is facing a fine of 1 million US dollars and 30 years in prison.
Approached by BNS, Lithuania's Prosecutor General's Office has refused to provide any information regarding Khawaja's extradition to the US, his current status or the investigations into his activities.
Luxurious life
In Autumn 2020, Khawaja was detained in Lithuania for two months, but was released after Triniti Jurex paid 770,000 euros in bail.
Since late October, Khawaja has been staying at one of the most luxurious hotels in Vilnius, Stikliai, according to Čeniauskas. The bailiff then requested information about his accommodation and payment for services because Khawaja had declared he had no assets and, therefore, was unable to pay the tens of millions of dollars in fines and compensation.
"This clearly shows that he has backing in Lithuania, [as he is] able to leave custody so easily with the help of money of unclear origin and enjoy freedom in Lithuania,” said Černiauskas
According to him, it's difficult to determine the origin of Khawaja's money, as Triniti Jurex and Stikliai have been fined for non-compliance with the bailiff's orders, but they still refuse to provide the requested information.
The bailiff asked the law firm to disclose details surrounding the record-high bail, but its origins remain unclear, Černiauskas said.
Vilija Viešūnaitė, a lawyer at Triniti Jurex, said the firm was only an intermediary, adding that it was a normal practice for transfers to be made through a lawyer.
"We didn't pay [the bail], we just made the money transfer, and this is a normal practice for law firms," she told BNS.
Viešūnaitė did not say whether she knew about the origin of the transferred 770,000 euros and whether she was looking into it.
The bailiff also asked Khawaja to provide information on the sources of his livelihood, bail and assets, but he refused. Because of it, he was fined 300 and 500 euros in August and February respectively by the Vilnius Regional Court.
The Stikliai manager was also fined 200 euros for the failure to provide information to the bailiff. The fine was upheld by the Lithuanian Court of Appeal on March 23.
BNS was not able to contact Stikliai for comment.
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