Mukhtar Ablyazov. Photo by Yaroslav Radlovskiy©
The Independent compares apprehension of the exile banker Mukhtar Ablyazov from Kazakhstan to the Trojan Horse story. It has turned out that the French police operation to arrest Ablyazov near Cannes was a creative one. French special forces officers was watching the well-guarded Ablyazov’s villa from their surveillance post in the woods waiting for the gardener’s van to exit the gates, as they were told it would be used by Ablyazov to escape. After the van left the villa it was stopped and searched by the police, but only gardeners were found inside. Then several police officers changed clothes with the gardeners and more officers hid in the van. The gardeners readily provided the security code for the gate and the “heavily armed French tactical firearms team” easily entered the territory of the villa without being spotted by the security cameras. The officers quickly entered the main building and found Ablyazov sitting at his computer and unaware of the presence of the police. Ablyazov's whereabouts were tracked down by British private detectives, The Independent writes. The detectives were searching for him when he fled Great Britain shortly after being sentenced to 22 months in prison for contempt of court. They managed to track him through his Ukrainian lawyer, Olena Tyschenko, who was found to communicate with Ablyazov in the south of France. Earlier Tengrinews reported by the exile tycoon was tracked by Israeli private detectives citing Kommersant. According to the newspaper, those were private detectives from Israeli agency Gadot hired by Kazakhstan authorities who found Ablyazov’s whereabouts in Italy almost two months ago, but he managed to flee that time leaving behind his wife and daughter. “According to an unnamed source, the private detectives were the ones who found Mr Ablyazov in France as well, tracking him down through phone calls he made to his wife and her lawyers,” Kommersant wrote. Mukhtar Ablyazov was arrested on July 31 not far from Cannes . He was apprehended under the extradition request of Ukraine. The Aix-en-Provence court decided to leave Mukhtar Ablyazov in custody until the decision on his extradition is made. The extradition is awaited by Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine as Ablyazov is wanted in all of these countries for major fraud. Kazakhstan has no extradition agreement with France and extradition to Russia would face limitations. That’s why Ablyazov will most likely to be extradited to Ukraine. Meanwhile, Amnesty International has called the authorities in France to make sure that Mukhtar Ablyazov gets a fair extradition process and that he is not sent to any country that may return him to Kazakhstan.
The Independent compares apprehension of the exile banker Mukhtar Ablyazov from Kazakhstan to the Trojan Horse story.
It has turned out that the French police operation to arrest Ablyazov near Cannes was a creative one. French special forces officers was watching the well-guarded Ablyazov’s villa from their surveillance post in the woods waiting for the gardener’s van to exit the gates, as they were told it would be used by Ablyazov to escape. After the van left the villa it was stopped and searched by the police, but only gardeners were found inside. Then several police officers changed clothes with the gardeners and more officers hid in the van. The gardeners readily provided the security code for the gate and the “heavily armed French tactical firearms team” easily entered the territory of the villa without being spotted by the security cameras. The officers quickly entered the main building and found Ablyazov sitting at his computer and unaware of the presence of the police.
Ablyazov's whereabouts were tracked down by British private detectives, The Independent writes. The detectives were searching for him when he fled Great Britain shortly after being sentenced to 22 months in prison for contempt of court. They managed to track him through his Ukrainian lawyer, Olena Tyschenko, who was found to communicate with Ablyazov in the south of France.
Earlier Tengrinews reported by the exile tycoon was tracked by Israeli private detectives citing Kommersant. According to the newspaper, those were private detectives from Israeli agency Gadot hired by Kazakhstan authorities who found Ablyazov’s whereabouts in Italy almost two months ago, but he managed to flee that time leaving behind his wife and daughter. “According to an unnamed source, the private detectives were the ones who found Mr Ablyazov in France as well, tracking him down through phone calls he made to his wife and her lawyers,” Kommersant wrote.
Mukhtar Ablyazov was arrested on July 31 not far from Cannes . He was apprehended under the extradition request of Ukraine.
The Aix-en-Provence court decided to leave Mukhtar Ablyazov in custody until the decision on his extradition is made. The extradition is awaited by Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine as Ablyazov is wanted in all of these countries for major fraud. Kazakhstan has no extradition agreement with France and extradition to Russia would face limitations. That’s why Ablyazov will most likely to be extradited to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International has called the authorities in France to make sure that Mukhtar Ablyazov gets a fair extradition process and that he is not sent to any country that may return him to Kazakhstan.