Kazakhstan sues to recover $1.1 Billion in BTA Assets

    Kazakhstani prosecutors have filed lawsuits to recover foreign assets of BTA bank worth 172 billion tenge ($1.1 billion), the General Prosecutor's Office said on Friday.
    Kazakhstan nationalized BTA in February and sacked its chairman Mukhtar Ablyazov accusing him and other managers of fraud. Ablyazov, who has left Kazakhstan, denies any wrongdoing.
    Iogan Merkel, Deputy Prosecutor General, said his agency had launched a separate probe into BTA's overseas lending, including its activities in Ukraine and Georgia.
    "The criminal case is being investigated. We cannot say it (the investigation) will be over soon," Merkel told reporters. "... Lawsuits have been filed to recover funds totaling 172 billion tenge."
    Merkel did not name the targets of the lawsuits, according to Kazakhstan Today.