BTA expects to recover as early as this year assets reportedly siphoned off by the Bank’s ex Chairman Mukhtar Ablyazov

BTA Bank. Photo courtesy of vesti.kz

Kazakhstan-based BTA expects to recover as early as this year assets reportedly siphoned off by the Bank’s ex CEO Mukhtar Ablyazov, according to the BTA’s Chairman of the Board Kadyrzhan Damitov, Newskaz.ru reports. “I believe some of the assets will be recovered before the end of the year; these will be the first tangible results of the investigation into the fraud”, Mr. Damitov told a briefing in Almaty August 27. According to him, a major part of the assets will be recovered by BTA within 3-5 years. “We are fully aware that some of the assets will never be recovered. But we do believe some sizeable amounts will be recovered”, he elaborated. Mukhtar Ablyazov, the fugitive former head of Kazakhstan’s BTA Bank, faces possible extradition following his arrest in France after over a year on the run in Europe. The fugitive banker is wanted by Kazakhstan on charges of alleged money laundering and running an organized criminal group. The banker is accused of allegedly embezzling $6 billion of BTA’s money. Following the Government’s bail out, BTA defaulted on $12bn of debt and agreed a restructuring that saw foreign creditors take a $7bn haircut in 2010. A second restructuring for another $11bn was concluded late last year. Back in February 2013 President Nazarbayev commissioned the Government to make sure Samruk-Kazyna Sovereign Wealth Fund exits the earlier bailed-out BTA, Alliance and Temir banks before the end of the year.

Kazakhstan-based BTA expects to recover as early as this year assets reportedly siphoned off by the Bank’s ex CEO Mukhtar Ablyazov, according to the BTA’s Chairman of the Board Kadyrzhan Damitov, Newskaz.ru reports. “I believe some of the assets will be recovered before the end of the year; these will be the first tangible results of the investigation into the fraud”, Mr. Damitov told a briefing in Almaty August 27. According to him, a major part of the assets will be recovered by BTA within 3-5 years. “We are fully aware that some of the assets will never be recovered. But we do believe some sizeable amounts will be recovered”, he elaborated. Mukhtar Ablyazov, the fugitive former head of Kazakhstan’s BTA Bank, faces possible extradition following his arrest in France after over a year on the run in Europe. The fugitive banker is wanted by Kazakhstan on charges of alleged money laundering and running an organized criminal group. The banker is accused of allegedly embezzling $6 billion of BTA’s money. Following the Government’s bail out, BTA defaulted on $12bn of debt and agreed a restructuring that saw foreign creditors take a $7bn haircut in 2010. A second restructuring for another $11bn was concluded late last year. Back in February 2013 President Nazarbayev commissioned the Government to make sure Samruk-Kazyna Sovereign Wealth Fund exits the earlier bailed-out BTA, Alliance and Temir banks before the end of the year.

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