BTA seeks UK Prison Terms for Ablyazov Accomplices

    BTA Bank, Kazakhstan’s third largest lender, is seeking UK prison terms for two alleged accomplices of the bank’s fugitive former chairman Mukhtar Ablyazov, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.
    BTA is seeking sentences for Syrym Shalabayev, Ablyazov’s brother-in-law who allegedly helped to secretly administer Ablyazov’s assets, and Paul Kythreotis, a UK citizen who allegedly fraudulently directed funds away from BTA to Ablyazov-controlled shell companies.
    Justice Michael Briggs at the High Court in London on Monday granted Shalabayev an extra week to reveal his assets and warned that he was “likely to face a very serious custodial sentence” if he fails to do so.
    At a separate hearing, BTA lawyers sought a prison term for Kythreotis who directed a Cyprus-based company that allegedly helped siphon at least $290 million from BTA.
    BTA’s management has brought multiple fraud charges against Ablyazov and his accomplices in British and Russian courts. In 2010, a British court of appeal upheld a High Court ruling that a receivership order be placed on Ablyazov’s assets and his passport be held.
    In Russia, Ablyazov has been charged on four counts of financial crime, and a warrant for his arrest has been issued.
    In Kazakhstan, the Procurator General’s Office filed 90 charges against the former chairman of BTA Bank and is seeking recovery of $7.5 billion.
    BTA became the largest lender in Kazakhstan to default on its debt in April 2009, shortly after the Kazakh government had taken over the bank, amid allegations of fraud, embezzlement and political revenge.
    In September 2010, the bank completed the largest ever emerging markets debt restructuring, reducing its $16.7-billion debt to $4.2 billion, SRI reports.