Kazakhinvestbank banker banned from Air Astana flights after punching female agent

    By Nariman Gizitdinov
    Air Astana, a venture between the Kazakh government and BAE Systems Plc (BA/), said it will bar a local banker from flights after an altercation with a travel agent.
    Darkhan Botabayev, a member of AO Kazinvestbank’s board, punched the airline’s female employee in the face during a dispute as he was trying to buy a ticket in Almaty on Sept. 11, the carrier said in a statement e-mailed today. Kazakh police declined to investigate the incident, the company said.
    Botabayev wasn’t available to comment when Bloomberg News called Kazinvestbank. An official who picked up the phone at the lender’s office declined to comment.
    Kazinvestbank, Kazakhstan’s 22^nd-largest lender by assets, is owned by Economic Development and Trade Minister Erbolat Dosayev, Environmental Protection Minister Nurlan Kapparov and Citigroup Venture Capital International Growth Partnership, according to Kazakhstan’s stock exchange website, Bloomberg reports.