He was once an ambassador-at-large for Keith Mitchell's New National Party (NNP) government in St. George's.

But Viktor Kozeny, known internationally as the "Pirate of Prague" is now battling against some of the most powerful Western countries to avoid a jail term for money-laundering and other criminal activities.

Kozeny had befriended the Grenadian leader and on a few occasions put his private jet at his disposal for trips to several European capitals. It's now emerging that the "Prague Pirate" who is locked up in a Bahamian jail awaiting extradition proceedings to the U.S on criminal charges is the holder of several passports.

Described as the most controversial recipient of the Irish passport for investment scheme, Kozeny is to discover this month whether he is to be extradited to the U.S on a $110 million (£86.6 million) fraud case.

The Czech-born controversial businessman, who used six different Irish passports to enter and leave the U.S since obtaining citizenship in 1995, has been told by a Bahamas judge that she will make her final decision on his extradition case in mid-September.

Kozeny was arrested in the Bahamas last October following an extradition request from New York federal prosecutors after U.S. Investors complained that they had lost millions of dollars in Kozeny's failed bid to privatise a state oil corporation in the former Soviet state of Azerbaijan.

Bahamian judge Carolita Bethel said she will decide the extradition case in September after Kozeny's lawyer argued in court last month that an inter American anti-corruption convention was signed after Kozeny's alleged offences and could not be used to extradite him to the U.S.

In June, Judge Bethel ruled that Kozeny could not be extradited on money laundering charges but said the corruption and conspiracy charges remain outstanding. Prosecutor Francis Cumberbatch will submit his arguments to the court in a few days.

Kozeny, who is also wanted in the Czech Republic for allegedly defrauding thousands of investors of their life savings, obtained his Irish passport after investing in an Irish biomedical company under the now defunct passport for investment scheme.

The "Prague Pirate" had also landed a Grenadian diplomatic passport from the NNP regime that failed in its bid to get him accredited as an ambassador in the United Kingdom. It emerged during Bahamian bail proceedings last year that Kozeny used six different Irish passports to enter the U.S since 1995.

He argued in court that he had various visa documents attached to various individual passports and needed all six. One of the Irish passports was handed over to Bahamian authorities by his mother, who was staying at his island mansion at the time of his arrest.

Kozeny was refused bail in October, based largely on the disclosure of his multiple passports.