Ablyazov's wife to be questioned about his whereabouts

The wife of former BTA Bank’s chairman Mukhtar Ablyazov will be questioned about his whereabouts, Tengrinews.kz reports citing the Foreign Ministry of Kazakhstan. According to the Ministry, Ablyazov’s wife Alma Shalabayeva and their daughter Alua arrived to Kazakhstan on June 1. They are currently living with Shalabayeva’s parents in Almaty. “Shalabayeva is not in custody or under house arrest,” the authority states. “Shalabayeva is not accused of Mr. Ablyazov’s crimes and she will not be prosecuted for his deeds. However, she is an important witness and will be interviewed to define the location of her husband, as well as in relation to the fake passports issued in Kazakhstan.” The Ministry also gave details about deportation of Ablyazov’s wife from Italy. On May 29 Italian law-enforcement authorities held a special operation in the house in the suburbs of Rome, where, according to their information, Mukhtar Ablyazov was hiding. The former banker was not found in the house. Police found only his wife and daughter. When requested to produce her ID Shalabayeva showed a fake Central African passport registered in the name of Ayan Alma. The authorities contacted Kazakhstan embassy in Rome when it turned out that the woman was a citizen of Kazakhstan. The Italian police initiated the deportation of Shalabayeva and her daughter to Kazakhstan for violation of their migration legislation. “Repatriation of Shalabayeva and her daughter was not initiated by Kazakhstan authorities. We would like to stress that we are talking about a deportation, not extradition,” the Ministry stressed. Shalabayeva is involved in a separate case on illegal issue of Kazakhstan passports to Ablyazov’s relatives for them to leave Kazakhstan using he said fake passports, the Ministry added. She was the person that one of the fake passports was issued, to her three children received passports from the fake batch as well. The extent of her involvement in the case, besides the fact of illegally receiving the passport, is being defined. Shalabayeva denies using any fake documents. Atyrau court has recently issued rulings on the group of persons involved in forgery of the passports for Mukhtar Ablyazov’s relatives. Three of them were sentenced to 2 to 9 years in prison.