Ablyazov loses UK Bid to delay Jail Hearing in BTA Bank Case

    By Erik Larson
    Mukhtar Ablyazov, the ex-chairman of Kazakhstan’s BTA Bank, lost in a bid to delay a U.K. trial over whether he should be jailed for violating an asset freeze in the lender’s fraud case against him.
    A two-week trial over the bank’s contempt-of-court claim will start Nov. 28 as previously scheduled, Judge Nigel Teare ruled today in London.
    Teare cited bank evidence showing that in March, land “indirectly owned” by the defendant was pledged to the Central Bank of Russia in violation of an October 2010 freezing order and without court permission.
    “His failure to make such an application before executing the pledge is disturbing and worrying,” Teare said. “It certainly fuels the claimant’s fear that unless the contempt application is brought on promptly, other assets of the defendant may be disposed of in breach of the freezing order.”
    BTA, which defaulted on $12 billion of debt before restructuring last year, filed a series of U.K. cases against Ablyazov and Roman Solodchenko, its ex-chief executive officer, claiming they siphoned money from the bank using fake loans. The men fled to London and deny the claims. Ablyazov also argued he didn’t violate the freezing order.
    BTA asked a judge in May to jail Ablyazov for failing to fully disclose his assets under the freezing order. The bank said its forensic accountants uncovered evidence of more than 600 shell companies used by Ablyazov to hide his wealth.
    Lawyers for Ablyazov argued he was “burdened” by new evidence provided by BTA and delayed by a dispute over his stake in the bank’s Georgian subsidiary allegedly being sold without his permission, according to the judgment.
    
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    Ablyazov’s London-based spokesman, Locksley Ryan, declined to comment when reached today by phone.
    Ablyazov also claimed to have been delayed by problems at Moscow-based AMT Bank, one of his “most important assets,” Teare said in his ruling. The Central Bank of Russia revoked AMT’s license in July and a liquidation hearing is scheduled for Oct. 10 in Moscow, the judge said.
    Ablyazov was previously accused of violating the asset freeze by failing to reveal his ownership in a Moscow skyscraper project.
    That dispute prompted the judge in August to place an estimated $5 billion in Ablyazov’s assets into receivership under the control of KPMG LLP during the case, Bloomberg reports.