Kazakhstan to retrieve assets worth $250 million from Ablyazov

$250 million from the assets expropriated by Mukhtar Ablyazov, a fugitive banker from Kazakhstan's BTA bank, will be returned to Kazakhstan, RBC Ukraine writes citing the press-service of Factor group of companies. Ukrainian businessman Sergey Tischenko and Kazakhstan law-enforcement authorities have obtained control over this part of Ablyazov’s assets. Factor group of companies established by Tischenko, got hold of two former assets of Mukhtar Ablyazov: Logopark Tolmachevo and Pyshma company, jointly evaluated at $250 million. Logopark Tolmachevo was established by Eurasia Logistic in 2007 for construction of a large industrial park with an area of 806 thousand square meters near Novossibirsk airport Tolmachevo. The first stage of the project with the area of 45 thousand square meters was completed. Logopark Tolmachevo offers high-quality A-class storage facilities for rent. Pyshma-Yekaterinburg is a large project in Ural region. The overall area of the industrial park is 280 thousand square meters. Over 190 thousand square meters of the storage facilities are currently operating in the park. Mukhtar Ablyazov is accused of embezzling over $6 billion from BTA bank and other major fraud in several countries including Kazakhstan. The exile banker may face 13-year of prison with confiscation of property in Kazakhstan that is currently seeking his extradition from France. Ablyazov was arrested on July 31 not far from Cannes on an extradition request from Ukraine. The Aix-en-Provence court that heard his case 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 may face some limitations. That’s Ukraine is considered to have the highest chances of achieving Ablyazov's extradition.